Disaster Risk Reduction: Concepts and Measures

Understanding Risk Factors and Mitigation

Risks can be categorized based on their origin and characteristics. Effective risk management requires understanding these distinctions and implementing appropriate prevention strategies.

Types of Risks

Anthropic Risks

These risks originate from human activities and societal structures:

• Social Studies: War, crime.
• Economic: Economic crises.
• Technological: Risks derived from telecommunications technologies.

Induced or Mixed Risks

These risks arise from a combination of natural processes and human actions:

• External Processes: Destabilization, construction on unstable ground.
• Internal Processes: Settlement of populations in areas of seismic or volcanic risk.

Key Concepts in Risk Assessment

Understanding specific terminology is crucial for effective risk assessment:

• Danger (P): The probability of occurrence of a phenomenon with potential to cause harm at a particular location.
• Severity: Assesses the planned magnitude of a specific catastrophic event, classified into different degrees of hazard. The hypotheses of maximum risk and medium risk are also used.
  • The return time
  • The geographic distribution
• Vulnerability (V): A measure of the degree of effectiveness of a particular social group to adapt its organization against changes in the natural environment that incorporate risks.
• Exposure (E): Also called "exposure," it represents the total value of persons or property exposed to the risk.
• Risk Assessment (R): Considered as the product of the probability of occurrence or danger (P) of a disaster, by vulnerability (V) per unit of loss or victims, and by exposure (E) in total number of victims or potential economic damage.

  R = P · V · E

• Prediction: Allows us to announce a phenomenon occurring before it causes significant harm.
• Prevention: Allows us to prepare for risk in advance.

Risk Prevention Measures

Prevention strategies can be broadly categorized into structural and non-structural approaches.

Structural Prevention Measures

These involve modifications to geological structures or the creation of appropriate physical structures.

Non-Structural Prevention Measures

• Spatial Planning: Laws that prevent human settlements in risk areas.
• Civil Protection: Strategies for prevention against risks.
• Education for Risk: Reduces vulnerability and can improve prevention strategies.
• Establishment of Risk Insurance: It is desirable that the population in high-risk areas contracts insurance.
• Cost/Benefit Analysis: Compares the economic cost of implementing remedial measures with the resulting benefits.

Environmental Crisis Factors

Several factors contribute to environmental crises:

• Exponential Population Growth and Concentration: The concentration of population in big cities leads to other problems such as marginalization, insecurity, and poverty.
• Accelerated Consumption of Resources: This threatens to overcome the ecological system's capacity to regenerate.