Measuring the vulnerability of a community or region is important in understanding how a disaster or double tragedy will adversely affect the population and its ability to rebuild.
Though vulnerability is too complex to be fully explained by simple models, the Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF) can be a useful tool for measurement. The SLF takes into account multiple dimensions: economic, social, demographic, political and psychological.
The model consists of five categories. If all the five points are fulfilled, the community is considered not vulnerable.
Should a population lack one or more of these categories the vulnerability of that population is said to increase.
The five categories:
1) Human: skills, knowledge, ability to work and good health.
2) Social: the social resources people draw upon in pursuit of livelihood.
3) Natural: the natural resource stock from which resources flow and services are derived (e.g. land, forest, water, protection from storm and erosion).
4) Physical: the basic infrastructure and producer goods needed to support livelihoods. Infrastructure components include, affordable transport, secure shelter, adequate water supplies and sanitation, access to information. Producer goods are the tools and equipment that people use to function more effectively.
5) Financial: includes savings and credits, and flows of money other than earned income (e.g. pensions).
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
