Disaster vulnerability of a population is increasing rapidly due to the frequent occurrence of natural disasters in recent years, particularly those regions who possess clear trends and a client of lifelong disastrous events. Those impacted came from various backgrounds in the hierarchy of a population, specifically minorities or individuals that are unprivileged with reinforcements will have tremendous exposure to this vulnerability. Thus, there is a need and demand to cultivate methods which could alleviate the vulnerability, and in present times each community has a diverse approach in doing so. Most commonly approaches such as prediction, community preparedness and poverty reduction are utilized to reduce disaster vulnerability in each population.
1. Prediction (National Academic Press)
Prediction and warnings prior to the occurrence of disasters is a paramount way to save lives even though alerts are addressed a few seconds or minutes before, this gives an opportunity for communities to self-shelter and reduce the contingency of getting injured or a near-death experience. When such action is addressed well in advance, it diminishes economic loss or damage of property in that region for some disaster. Although then some disasters remain unpreventable, due to swift occurence and the magnitude of disaster itself needs more advanced prediction.
Mount Merapi volcano eruption is one of the benefits of impending disaster that is issued well in advance. Between 2006 - 2010, the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Agency (VONA) weeks before imprint the area around the mountain on its highest alert status. Surono, as the head of the agency, predicted that the magnitude of the eruption will be greater than what happened in 2006. His agency managed to scrutinize the district that will be impacted heavily by the eruption, subsequently Surono contacted the local government for an early evacuation procedure and educated people around the city of Yogyakarta about the eruption (VOA). Out of 50,000 people living in the district the casualties resulting from the eruption only reached 324 people in 2010 (JakartaGlobe).
During this approach not only have they integrated prediction through scientific and technological advancements developed by VONA but merapi communities established their perception through signs from the natural order including beliefs. Mbah Maridjan is believed by local communities due to the fact that he was appointed and destined to be the “gatekeeper” of the mountain. He was obligated by the previous Yogyakarta king and palace. If an eruption took place, most villagers were warned through his vision (BBC.com)
Local communities have attempted to cultivate the capability of predicting natural disaster occurrence in recent decades through various methods. Nowadays scientific and technological advances became the most prominent and viable option to predict and disseminate warnings based on prediction. Albeit the improvements made, there is still a wide margin of uncertainty of accuracy in predicting natural disasters since pattern of the occurrence varies periodically.
2. Community Preparedness
Community preparedness prior to occurrence of disasters provides a platform which includes creativity and planning skills such as design effective, realistic, coordinate planning, and also disaster assessment. The relevance of community preparedness is accentuated by the government which demands a holistic approach, utilizing such action could reduce casualties and allow communities to revive into normal setpoints in the aftermath of disaster.
Red Cross is a humanitarian non-profit organization (NGO) which recruits nearly 97 million volunteers worldwide to aid vulnerable communities in specific regions upon the occurrence of disaster. The Red Cross is one of many NGO who volunteered in saving lives during the Haiti Storm. Before the Gustav storm status was raised by local districts, they assisted communities to government-run shelters and managed to save 6,000 lives. Beforehand, shelters were provided with relief supplies and ample reinforcement from donations (IFRC)
The establishment of proper institutions related to community preparedness can be promising when it comes to predictable disasters such as storms and volcanic eruptions. Myriads of countries have injected monetary donations to institutions so that they could assist communities during disasters. Subsequently, the need for cooperation from communities is integral taken into account that most individuals have the tendency to defy the substantial aid provided by NGOs and government.
3. Poverty Reduction
Vulnerability in this context could be defined as alleviating the impact of disaster to communities within the disparities range in the population and the ability of them anticipating disasters at hand. Research from the Red Cross suggests that certain individuals have different scenarios in terms of disaster exposure risk due to the characteristics they are categorized in. Hence in terms of poverty the physical, economical, and social factors are determinants of vulnerability when disaster smite. Thus, Red cross also provides general lists of communities that are affected in this scenario:
Displaced Population
Migrants
Children and women
Unfortunate communities
The correlation between poverty reduction of a specific region and disaster vulnerability could be labelled ambiguously at first. However, through rigorous research from established institutions they were able to deduce the relation of both topics. Many NGOs and governmental organizations research publications have proposed several project initiatives that present the integration of reducing poverty to help reduce the vulnerability of the unfortunates and hence alleviate the livelihoods of those social clusters of community.
These project initiatives have started decades ago with the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDDR) sector becoming the initiator of this trend. A specific case conducted by the institution is situated in Gaibandha, Bangladesh. Where riverbank erosion often occurred which causes mass movement from happening. The United Nations was able to “experiment” on the district, building merely 20,000 household and implementing innovative technologies as a pathway for community development to cope with disaster beforehand (UNDDR).
Video 1: Education for Disaster Preparedness by UNESCO
The three ways to reduce disaster vulnerability have both pros and cons, although then there are some ways that are slightly adequate and feasible than others which could be a prominent option in anticipating disasters prior to the occurrence of it. Personally, I would emphasize governments to cultivate the first method which is using prediction more to handle disaster. Since it is promising and is the root of the other two options. Through prediction we were able to deduce the type of reinforcement and education should be implemented to that community (community preparedness) and also it will assist in reducing poverty due to the improved infrastructure building being initiated from the prediction. Through prediction governments will be able to indict the intensity of evacuation procedures before disasters occurred. Moreover, I believed that if Government attempts to reduce the impact of disasters through prediction this will help improved the technological aspects of a country. The action of improving that sector means opening up the opportunity of field of work, decreasing poverty simultaneously. Due to the fact that job opportunity rises for societies.
Even then I think using prediction to reduce disaster vulnerability, is the most promising option since it makes Government really flexible and not just centered into one aspect. For instance, focusing to only poverty means they need to close the option of improving an area vulnerability to disaster as poverty means to only improve the nation economically. On the other hand, focusing the target of improvement to only community preparedness means it only focusing on the social aspect of the area (education) and this means it closes the opportunity to reduce disaster vulnerability economically.
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