Home Preparedness

Reducing Vulnerability

The core concept of disaster preparedness is vulnerability, or risk reduction. Hazards lead to disasters only when they coincide with the vulnerable points of populations and systems. Vulnerability corresponds to the conditions or characteristics of persons, groups, and systems that influence their capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist, and recover from the impact of hazards. It is determined by physical, social, economic, and environmental factors or processes. The concept of reducing vulnerability usually concerns different levels (governmental, sectoral, communal, institutional, and individual) and abstract or physical units, such as organizations or buildings. Vulnerability to emergencies and disasters has two aspects: susceptibility, the degree of exposure to hazards; and resilience, the ability to withstand damage due to disasters. Vulnerability is, therefore, a function of susceptibility and resilience. Reducing vulnerability or risk is mainly a function of pre-disaster activities involving prevention, mitigation, and preparedness.

Disaster management, including reducing vulnerability, is mistakenly considered a duty of the state, and is assumed to require high technology. It is true that for disaster management to be effective and successful, efforts to improve preparedness at community, household, and individual levels should be supported by corresponding efforts by government sectors and institutions. For this reason, disaster risk reduction was described in the context of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) as a shared responsibility between governments, communities, and individuals. Although the use of the latest technology and sophisticated equipment is important for disaster management, there are also simple measures that individuals, households, and communities can take to protect their communities, homes, and themselves, such as fixing high furniture to the wall, learning first aid, and obtaining an emergency kit.

The involvement and active participation of communities, households, and individuals in any kind of mitigation and preparedness activities are essential for coping successfully with disasters, because in the final analysis, it is individuals and households who are harmed by disasters.

Home preparedness and individual preparedness go together. Many activities are common to both and should be considered as a whole. General principles of home preparedness that can be used for almost every kind of hazards are:

• 1
  Know the risks, discover which hazards threaten the area, learn how to reduce the impacts of and prepare for these hazards, and apply these measures at home and find out how the population will be warned.
• 2
  Buy insurance.
• 3
  Draw up a family plan for what to do during a disaster, including how to escape from the home, communicate with family members, shut off household utilities, address special needs such as disabilities, take care of animals, and seek shelter. Communicate this plan to family members.
• 4
  Assemble a disaster/emergency supply kit to include water; nonperishable food; a battery-powered radio; a flashlight and plenty of extra batteries; a first-aid kit with any prescription medications and eyeglasses; extra cloths; special items for infants, elderly, or disabled family members; some cash; sanitation supplies; a whistle to signal for help; and copies of important documents such as identification cards.
• 5
  Volunteer and become skilled at helping others.

The core concepts and strategies of disaster preparedness are common to all disasters, and therefore helpful for all kinds of hazards. Each hazard type might, however, need additional measures depending on the [Page 306]specific characteristics of the hazard, or vulnerabilities and location of the community. Local authorities are the best sources of information about local risks and how to cope with them. As examples, some guidelines for preparing for an earthquake or other devastating natural hazards such as hurricanes and nuclear power plant emergencies follow.

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