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Concept of Vulnerability and Capacity
Concept of Vulnerability and Capacity
VULNERABILITY
and
CAPACITY
Ms. Blessie Fernandez
Vulnerability
a. Farmers
b. The urban poor
c. Laborers
d. Indigenous people
e. Persons with disabilities (PWDs)
f. Women
g. Children
• They are the so-called
abused sector and all
MOST vulnerable
the lowest level of
sectors::
society.
• They are the community
members whose capacities
skilss start from their own ability to
ability
acquire material resources;
skills and trainings; and
position in society.
• Their capacities are higher
than those in the vulnerable
sector overcome the adverse
effects of disasters.
LESS Vulnerable
Sector:
• They are composed of professionals, small entrepreneurs, and
other similar to those who belong to the higher levels of
society.
• Their role in disaster management activities is to extend
assistance and support to vulnerable sectors.
• They are sectors in society having
NOT vulnerable high position in the community.
sectors: • Most of the time, they are the
targets of the vulnerable and less
vulnerable sectors in advocacy
work relating disaster issue to the
structure and policies implemented
by the government that are the root
causes of the vulnerability of the
community.
Categories of
Vulnerabilities
Three areas of vulnerability
according to Anderson and
Woodrow (1990)
A. Physical or material
vulnerability
Social/Organizational
What are the relations and
organizations among
people?
Motivational/Attitudinal
How does the community
view its ability to create
change?
Physical/Material Vulnerability and Capacity
This refers to the most visible area of vulnerability. It includes land, climate,
technologies. Poor people suffer from crisis more often than people who are
options and limited resources. They are more vulnerable and revover more
How society is organized, its internal conflicts and how it manages them are
just as important as the physical/material dimension of vulnerability, but less
visible and less well understood. This aspect includes formal political structures
and the informal systems through which people get things done. Poor societies that
are well organized and cohesive can withstand or recover from disasters better than
those where there is litle of no organization and communities are divided. To
explore this aspect, one has to ask what the social structure was before the disaster
and how well it served the people when disaster struck; one can also ask what
impact disasters have on social organization.
Motivational/Organizational Vulnerability
And Capacity
This area includes how people in society view themselves and their ability to affect
their environment. Groups that share strong ideologies or belief systems or have
experience of cooperating successfully, may be better able to help each other at
times of disaster than groups without such shared beliefs or who feel fatalistic or
dependent. Crises can stimulate communities to make extraordinary efforts.
Questions to be asked here include what people’s beliefs and motivations are and
how disasters affect them (Canon, et al., n.d., p.7).
Summary
Community members and groups have different vulnerabilities
and capacities. These are determined by age, gender, class,
social class, ethnicity, language, religion, and physical location.