Essay On Vulnerability And Resiliency

Disaster management groups in America work tirelessly in order to prevent and mitigate the death and destruction caused by natural and man-made disasters. Agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Red Cross have annual operating costs ranging in the billions of dollars. A large percentage of people think of physical vulnerabilities when discussing disaster management; however, there are other aspects that affect it as well. Social factors play a massive role in their vulnerability and resiliency to major disasters. The socioeconomic status of an individual or family greatly dictates their ability to defend against or recover from an unexpected calamity. Tierney (2006) discusses three dimensions of social inequality that can affect a person’s resiliency; these are social class position, race and ethnicity, and gender (p. 113-121). Rarely is a vulnerable population affected by just one of the dimensions, but are often impacted by multiple factors. First, is social class, which Tierney (2006) states that, “Just as higher socioeconomic status confers benefits …show more content…
Rumbach and Kudva (2011) state, “Both vulnerability and resilience are dynamic concepts reflecting social value systems” (p. 4). They also devised a table of “Variables that Contribute to Climate Change Vulnerability,” and the first four variables under “Social and Economic Vulnerability” are: “Age; Gender; Ethnicity and Race; education; and social class” (p. 7). Three of those five (gender, ethnicity and race, and social class) are also the same three major factors that Tierney (2006) identified in her work. The role of vulnerability and resilience extends beyond quick disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes; Rumbach and Kudva postulate that the effects carry on to slower occurring disasters as well such as climate