Psychological vulnerability as an integral component of comprehensive vulnerability assessment: informing policy and practice in disaster risk reduction

Abstract

Science can be utilised to mitigate risk and vulnerability throughout the disaster management cycle. The risk of a disaster depends not only on the hazard but also on the psychological, social and environmental vulnerability of exposed communities. Through a review of existing knowledge on evidence-based methods for assessing vulnerability in communities, it was found that psychological vulnerability is seldom considered in such assessments. We argue that psychological aspects play a key role in how people and communities perceive and respond to disaster events. Building infrastructure to assess vulnerability in a comprehensive manner is essential to inform policy and practice in disaster risk reduction. Better understanding of these complex relationships and the role of psychological vulnerability in reducing risk and building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters requires interdisciplinary approaches cutting across fields such as science, psychology, health, environment, economics, engineering and technology.