Cyclone and Storm Surge - Iczmpwb.org
Cyclone and Storm Surge - Iczmpwb.org
Cyclone and Storm Surge - Iczmpwb.org
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Chapter Five<br />
Vulnerability Assessment for Coastal Districts of<br />
West Bengal<br />
5.1. Vulnerability Assessment<br />
In the last five decades, it has been observed that there was an exponential rise in human <strong>and</strong><br />
material losses from disaster events. Albeit there is no clear evidence that the frequency or intensity<br />
of disastrous events has increased. This clearly points out that the rise in disaster related<br />
consequences was related to the vulnerability of the people that has been induced by the human<br />
determined path of development.<br />
Whatever may be the disasters origin, its consequences will not only depend on the hazard’s intrinsic<br />
severity <strong>and</strong> intensity, but also on the people’s vulnerability <strong>and</strong> socio-economic resistance to violent<br />
<strong>and</strong> unexpected occurrences. Put into simple words, even which drive the disaster may have an<br />
origin beyond the limits of man; its ultimate effect upon the state of welfare will generally depend on<br />
man-made physical economic <strong>and</strong> social infrastructure.<br />
A proper underst<strong>and</strong>ing of the factors which determines a disaster’s effect, in terms of people’s<br />
welfare, is then important both in identifying <strong>and</strong> evaluating prevention measures aimed at reducing<br />
people’s vulnerability, after each disaster, the type <strong>and</strong> amount of damage experienced by affected<br />
population.<br />
It has also been observed that in every disaster, it is the communities that are on the receiving end,<br />
<strong>and</strong> those who are the first casualties <strong>and</strong> are hardest hit - are the poor. Prime reason is that, more<br />
<strong>and</strong> more people in lower socio-economic stratum tend to inhabit in marginal <strong>and</strong> exposed l<strong>and</strong>. It is<br />
poverty which drives this underprivileged people to live in precarious locations <strong>and</strong> adopt<br />
unsustainable means of survival – making them increasingly more vulnerable to the natural <strong>and</strong> man<br />
made disasters.<br />
Disaster management plans prepared on the feed back of the vulnerability studies, instead of only<br />
concentrating on the hazard assessment studies, will perhaps better address the issues of social<br />
equity <strong>and</strong> justice.<br />
This component of the study will focus on the inherent characteristics of the human settlements<br />
which make it vulnerable to the tropical cyclones <strong>and</strong> related risks. Assessing the vulnerability of the<br />
CHAPTER 5