Factors Contributing to Vulnerability... (Cont)

           Lack of information or awareness is a contributing favor as well.Developing nations lack in information on disaster management and some lack proper structures and manpower making them increasingly vulnerable. Transition in cultural practices like food preservation and neglect traditional warming systems have made communities more reliant on the govt and aid organizations making then more vulnerable.In some areas standards have come down like in urban centers where people live in sub-standard housing. This has a familiar hazard of fire to nations that have slums like Kenya. The fire engines cannot reach the affected areas due to narrow roads in the slums.

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        The environment degradation is also a factor. With water catchment areas being converted to agricultural land and forests being harvested off their timber. This leaves the nations vulnerable to reduced water supply bed affects marine life. A great example is the fires in Asia that left a city wearing marks. Next we shall look at geographic isolation, political instability and high disaster impact, to end our light probe into vulnerability. Islands slums have a common factor, isolation. They tend to be geographically remove and with one being due to lack of roads for fire tracks to use and other services when need arises. This relative remoteness makes them vulnerable in certain areas like in health services and access to educatio. With our next factor we look at high disaster impact as a contributing factor. This needs no exploring since we have witnessed tsunami devasate a community leaving nothing but vulnerable people with just their lives after its wake. Finally for this post we look at a factor that has touched all nations at some point. Political strife or instability. In kenya firms like Mearsk outsourced their business in readyness for the 2013 poll. The business environment was not to be trusted and people shopped for a month incase of unrest. The more unstable the political environment is the more likely chances that the nation is vulnerable.

        So you can already tell how crucial it is too know when an event is an emergency and when its a disaster. Lets look at what sets them apart from each other. One is that in an emergency the community can cope with the situation and two an emergency is generated by real or imminent occureance of a situation that requirers instant remedial action / attention with emergency resources. A disaster on the other
hand is natural or human fueled event with intense negative consequences on environment, business and people. In a disaster the community looks to their government and international agencies for
assistance.

Benson Mutahi
Disaster Management Enthusiast

Situations we are watching

v  http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/02/world/africa/tunisia-prison-break/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

v  http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/28/world/asia/india-buildings-collapse/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

v  http://allafrica.com/stories/200107110475.html

v  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23866930

v 
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/27/world/asia/japan-fukushima-leak-warning/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

References
Emergency Management: the American Experience,1900-2010. ed. Claire B.Rubin 

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