Disaster Risk Reduction Interventions Research Articles

Classifying disaster risk reduction strategies: conceptualizing and testing a novel integrated approach

BackgroundAlthough disaster risk reduction (DRR) addresses underlying causes and has been shown to be more cost-effective than other emergency management efforts, there is lack of systematized DRR categorization, leading to insufficient coherence in the terminology, planning, and implementation of DRR. The aim of this study was to conceptualize and test a novel integrated DRR framework that highlights the intersection between two existing classification systems.MethodsGrounded theory was used to conceptualize a novel DRR framework. Next, deductive conceptual content analysis was used to categorize interventions from the 2019 Cities100 Report into the proposed DRR framework. The term “connection” indicates that an intervention can be categorized into a particular section of the novel integrated approach. A “connection” was determined to be present when the intervention description stated an explicit connection to health and to the concept within one of the categories from the novel approach. Further descriptive statistics were used to give insight into the distribution of DRR interventions across categories and into the application of the proposed framework.ResultsThe resulting framework contains nine intersecting categories: “hazard, prospective”, “hazard, corrective”, “hazard, compensatory”, “exposure, prospective”, “exposure, corrective”, “exposure, compensatory”, “vulnerability, prospective”, “vulnerability, corrective”, and “vulnerability, compensatory”. The thematic analysis elucidated trends and gaps in the types of interventions used within the 2019 Cities100 Report. For instance, exposure-prospective, exposure-compensatory, and vulnerability-compensatory were the most under-utilized strategies, accounting for only 3% of the total interventions. Further descriptive statistics showed that upper middle-income countries favored “hazard, corrective” strategies over other DRR categories while lower middle-income countries favored “exposure, corrective” over other DRR strategies. Finally, European cities had the highest percentage of DRR connections (51.39%) compared to the maximum possible DRR connections, while African cities had the lowest percentage of DRR connections (22.22%).ConclusionsThe study suggests that the proposed DRR framework could potentially be used to systematically evaluate DRR interventions for missing elements, aiding in the design of more equitable and comprehensive DRR strategies.

Interactions between disaster risk reduction and intangible culture among indigenous communities in Benguet, Philippines

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH), are the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills in society, handed down from generation to generation. They are of growing interest in disaster discourse, due to their various contributions to community preparedness and response, including the improvement of early warning systems and mobilisation of resources and logistics. Previous research has provided evidence on how ICH contributes to disaster risk reduction in various contexts but is often concentrated among popular cultural heritage, particularly those inscribed by the UNESCO. ICH such as local knowledge, practices, innovations, and rituals outside of this authorised cultural heritage, such as those belonging to indigenous communities, are less well articulated, despite their importance in helping build effective disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM). This research examined how ICH, particularly indigenous knowledge, practices, technologies, and rituals have helped communities in Benguet, Northern Philippines for generations to build coping strategies to better respond to the risks of typhoons and other extreme events. Adopting a qualitative mixed-methods approach with an ethnographic orientation, data was gathered using storytelling, semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews, and document review. Respondents included elders for the storytelling, households for the semi-structured interview, and officers of the local authorities for the key informant interviews. The key findings of this study highlighted that several areas of local knowledge, practices, and systems focused on social support systems, cultural technologies and innovations, local rituals, and indigenous early warning systems that are present within the Benguet community, all of which are essential in strengthening DRRM at the local level. This intangible heritage has been fundamental in helping facilitate careful planning and adjustments in local activities, catalysing preemptive measures against foreseeable risks. As such, greater effort should be made by the State to increase mainstreaming of these ICH and the participation of indigenous people in the planning and implementation of disaster risk reduction intervention.

Multiple resilience dividends at the community level: A comparative study of disaster risk reduction interventions in different countries

Climate-related disasters are increasing in many parts of the world, yet investment in disaster risk reduction (DRR) remains insufficient to manage these risks. This is despite growing recognition that DRR interventions can reduce potential impacts from disasters as well as deliver broader economic, ecological, and social co-benefits. Focusing on the net benefits of DRR, beyond avoiding losses and damages, is considered as an important strategy to strengthen the case for DRR as part of a sustainable development by academics and international organizations alike. However, there is very limited evidence of on-the-ground accounting of these “multiple resilience dividends” by those who act to reduce disaster risk at the local level. Using an innovative analytical approach, we investigate the knowledge gaps and challenges associated with considering multiple resilience dividends in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of DRR interventions at the community level for the example of flood risk. We use a newly developed framework to analyze empirical survey data on community-level DRR interventions as well as five in-depth case studies from Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia, Afghanistan, and the United Kingdom. The analysis reveals a disconnect between available planning tools and the evidence of materialized multiple resilience dividends, which is a key obstacle to successfully apply the concept at the community level. Structured consideration of multiple resilience dividends from the planning to the monitoring and evaluation stages is required to secure local buy-in and to ensure that these dividends materialize as intended.

Macroeconomic co-benefits of DRR investment: assessment using the Dynamic Model of Multi-hazard Mitigation CoBenefits (DYNAMMICs) model

PurposeThe authors present a dynamic macroeconomic model for assessment of disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies under multiple hazards. The model can be used to analyze and compare various potential policies in terms of their economic consequences. The decomposition of these effects into multiple benefits helps policy makers and other stakeholders better understand the ex ante and ex-post advantages of DRR investments. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.Design/methodology/approachA dynamic real business cycle model is at the core of this research. In the model multiple natural hazards modeled stochastically cause shocks to the economy. Economic outcomes, most importantly, output can be assessed before and after disasters and under various DRR policies. The decomposition of benefits aims to quantify the concept of triple dividends.FindingsIn case study applications in Tanzania and Zambia, the authors find that investments into physical infrastructure and risk transfer instruments generate a variety of benefits even in the absence of disaster. A land use restriction with planned relocation for example reduces output in the short run but in the long run increases it. Overall, policy effects of various DRR interventions evolve in a nonmonotonic manner and should be evaluated over a long period of time using dynamic simulation.Originality/valueThe novelty of this study lies in the economic quantification of multiple benefits described in the triple dividends literature. This helps comparing ex ante, ex-post and volatility-related economic effects of multiple disasters and related physical and financial DRR investment options. As observed in the case studies, the model can also identify overlooked temporal heterogeneity of co-benefits of DRR investments.

Protection Motivation Status and Factors Influencing Risk Reduction Measures among the Flood-Prone Households in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh, a low-lying deltaic country, experiences recurrent floods. To reduce the subsequent losses and damages, self-preparedness measures are imperative. In that context, the present study attempted to assess the flood protection motivation status of local flood-prone households through the evaluation of threat and coping capacities, as well as the identification of the factors that influence preparedness actions. Using Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), this study employed a mixed-method approach at three different flood-prone locations in Bangladesh: (1) Type 1 settlement, an area with ‘hard (flood embankment)’ flood risk reduction measures; (2) Type 2 settlement, without any risk reduction measure; (3) Type 3 settlement, with ‘soft’ measures put in place as part of NGO-led disaster risk reduction interventions. The study findings revealed a comparatively higher protection motivation status among the respondents living in the Type 3 settlement, in terms of evaluating the flood risk and capacity to take flood preparedness measures. The correlation analysis further illustrated that the factors of the perceived probability and severity of flooding, coping capacity, previous flood experience, reliance on NGO interventions, and gender status had an influence on the protection motivation of flood-prone households. Remarkably, no such influence was found for socio-economic factors such as education and income. It is hoped that the study findings can support the future decision-making process for designing preparedness interventions for communities in flood-prone areas.

Disaster risk reduction for whom? The gap between centrally planned Disaster Management Program and people's risk perception and adaptation

Integration of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) is gaining popularity to address the increasing threat of climate change. People living in high disaster-prone impoverished areas can benefit from risk reduction interventions and subsequent adaptation of new technologies and behavior if those interventions diminish the perceived risk of disaster. Perceived risk of disaster plays an important role in influencing adaptive behavior. Disaster risk reduction interventions therefore can be benefitted from inclusive local consultation during the planning and implementation of the risk reduction interventions by taking local people's perceived risk of disaster into account. We studied a national-level disaster risk reduction program called ‘The comprehensive Disaster Management Program (CDMP)’ in Bangladesh to understand the linkage between risk reduction interventions, perceived risk of disaster, and adaptation. Following a mixed-method approach, we collected quantitative administrative data, interviewed local people, and conducted Focus Group Discussions in two disaster-prone neighboring coastal unions of Bangladesh. We have found that if risk reduction interventions designed by the central government are not aligned with the perceived risk of the local people, the implementation of these interventions does not reduce perceived risk significantly, and consequently, people do not adopt new technologies and behavior to increase their resilience to climate change shocks. Furthermore, people's valuation of a risk reduction intervention in reducing the perceived risk of disasters does not change after an actual disaster takes place insinuating the relative accuracy and robustness of local people's assessment of such interventions. We also found that risk reduction interventions implemented in a holistic way addressing multiple sources of risks can reduce perceived risk significantly. Lastly, we demonstrated that reducing perceived risk is a necessary condition but is not sufficient to encourage adaptation. Our study can contribute to improving the design and implementation of large-scale risk-reduction interventions implemented at the community level.

Social vulnerability to natural hazards in the Philippines

This research sought to measure social vulnerability at the municipal level across the Philippines. Indicators of social vulnerability were identified from literature and relevant census data was collected from the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify underlying components of social vulnerability from this data, and these principal components, as well as an aggregated Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), were mapped at the municipal level. Negative Binomial (NB) regression analysis was then used to validate the SVI using typhoon mortality rates, with results indicating that a one standard deviation (SD) increase in social vulnerability is positively correlated with a 23.4% increase in observed typhoon-related fatalities. The development of a granular and validated SVI can guide researchers seeking to understand how localised vulnerability contributes to disaster risk in the Philippines and assist policymakers in prioritising local government units for disaster risk reduction interventions.

Education, financial aid, and awareness can reduce smallholder farmers' vulnerability to drought under climate change

Abstract. Analyses of future agricultural drought impacts require a multidisciplinary approach in which both human and environmental dynamics are studied. In this study, we used the socio-hydrologic, agent-based drought risk adaptation model ADOPT. This model simulates the decisions of smallholder farmers regarding on-farm drought adaptation measures and the resulting dynamics in household vulnerability and drought impact over time. We applied ADOPT to assess the effect of four top-down disaster risk reduction interventions on smallholder farmers' drought risk in the Kenyan drylands: the robustness of additional extension services, lowered credit rates, ex ante rather than ex post cash transfers, and improved early warnings were evaluated under different climate change scenarios. Model results suggest that extension services increase the adoption of newer low-cost drought adaptation measures while credit schemes are useful for measures with a high investment cost, and ex ante cash transfers allow the least wealthy households to adopt low-cost, well-known measures. Early warning systems are shown to be more effective in climate scenarios with less frequent droughts. Combining all four interventions displays a mutually reinforcing effect with a sharp increase in the adoption of on-farm drought adaptation measures, resulting in reduced food insecurity, decreased poverty levels, and drastically lower need for emergency aid, even under hotter and drier climate conditions. These nonlinear synergies indicate that a holistic perspective is needed to support smallholder resilience in the Kenyan drylands.

Opportunities and Constraints for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Building among the Kenyan Pastoral Communities, Mandera County, Kenya

Climate-related hazards have been recorded as the main triggers for major disasters worldwide. However, extensive research in Opportunities and Constraints for Disaster Risk Reduction Interventions is greatly lacking. This study sought to research on this gap among pastoral communities of Mandera County. Three sampling techniques; stratified sampling, simple random and purposive sampling were used to collect data and information from key informants with a sample size of 157. The findings were analysed with Statistical Package of Social Sciences and Excel. Data were presented in tables, pie-chart and graphs. The hypothesis was tested by Chi-Square (X2). The null hypothesis of drought shocks had no association with effective and affordable practices of drought mitigation and preparedness in Mandera County, χ2 =4.468, DF=6, P=0.624, failed to be rejected.

Examining the determinants of flood risk mitigation measures at the household level in Bangladesh

Floods are the most common hazard in Bangladesh adversely affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of riverine people. Flood-affected households adopt a variety of post-disaster mitigation measures, to the best of their ability, in recognition that similar events are likely to occur again in the future. However, little is known about what drives a household to adopt risk mitigation measures after experiencing a severe flood. The objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of households' decisions on the implementation of flood risk mitigation measures, following the severe flood in 2017 in northern Bangladesh. The data used for this study were collected from the right bank of the Teesta River in Bangladesh through a survey of 377 households and six key informant interviews. Most of the households (83.3%) adopted at least one risk mitigation measure from either structural or nonstructural categories after the 2017 flood. Binary logistic regression models provide useful insights into the determinants of the implementation of mitigation measures and intention to implement mitigation measures in future. The results showed that the perceived probability of flood, perceived preparedness, flood experience, exposure to flood, membership, household head's sex, income source, and landownership significantly influenced households to implement mitigation measures in the post-disaster period. Additionally, the intention to implement mitigation measures was influenced by the membership and education of households. This study contributes in terms of useful information about the determinants of post-disaster mitigation measures in riverine areas of Bangladesh. These findings can be used to target specific households to promote disaster risk reduction interventions.

The neglected country(side): Earthquake risk perceptions and disaster risk reduction in post-Soviet rural Kazakhstan

While increasing resilience to earthquakes in the global South has become a major research and policy goal, the focus has largely been on rapidly expanding urban areas. Rural areas are often neglected despite the fact that rural residents make up a significant proportion of the population exposed to earthquakes in many low and middle-income countries. Central Asia is a case in point. Drawing on empirical research undertaken in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan, this paper explores local perceptions of and responses to earthquake hazard and risk among rural householders. The primary data are derived from a survey of 302 households conducted across six rural communities in South Kazakhstan oblast (now Turkistan oblast), supplemented by 10 focus group discussions with rural residents. The findings show little awareness of earthquakes or concern about the potential occurrence of a high magnitude earthquake in the future. This reflects, at least in part, a lack of direct experience of all but minor earthquakes. As a result, we see little evidence of the presence of a seismic culture. Only a small number of respondents had received guidance on how to prepare for, or respond to, earthquakes, and few householders had taken any action to reduce the risk faced. We reflect on the findings in the context of Kazakhstan’s Soviet past and its transition to a post-Soviet future. We argue that acknowledging this past is essential to understanding local level decision-making and to informing future disaster risk reduction interventions in rural areas.

The Need of Linking Local Community and National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies for Effective Disaster Mitigation: Lessons from Zimbabwe

This article exposes the perceptions of Mhondoro-Ngezi rural communities regarding the contribution of strengthening local community and national disaster risk reduction strategies in mitigating disasters in their district. It further shows the importance and level of community participation in disaster risk reduction programmes and the need for enhancement of community participation in disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives. The study utilized both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in data collection. Data was collected using closed and open ended questionnaires administered to 176 members of the households from a district population of about 102350. Structured interviews were conducted with eight (8) key informants to provide more detailed information. Furthermore, two focus group discussions were conducted to augment what was obtained from the interviews. Community participation was found empowering as social and human capital could be enhanced. Communities were aware that through community participation, they could develop some skills that were necessary for their everyday lives. They could enhance their leadership skills, thereby boosting their livelihoods by working together in community development initiatives. This article recommends that communities need to be engaged so that they become active participants in community DRR interventions. It further recommends that the government should come up with a policy to ensure that DRR activities become participatory at all levels of government administrative tiers. It is also imperative that the government should help communities develop local mechanisms for sustainable disaster risk reduction initiatives. Keywords: Disaster risk reduction, Livelihoods, Participation , Vulnerability, Rural communities DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/10-2-09 Publication date: January 31 st 2020

Resilience in Talcahuano, Chile: appraising local disaster response

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a qualitative and exploratory study aimed at learning more about the local forms of resilience that emerged in two localities (one rural and one urban locality) in Talcahuano, Chile, in response to the major earthquake and devastating tsunami that hit them on February 27, 2010.Design/methodology/approachTo ensure that people’s experiences remained leading throughout the study, data were collected in the field by the first author over a period of 13 months using a variety of qualitative methods. The primary methods were observation, participation and semi-structured interviews with a variety of actors, ranging from community members to local leaders and emergency professionals. For the analysis, a scheme was used that categorizes manifested resilience using two dimensions: damage and responsiveness. Since this scheme has been mostly used to evaluate tree populations, it was adapted to fit the appraisal of a social system.FindingsThe findings suggest that damage levels in the two communities were similar, but that the responsiveness was not. One locality revealed high levels of resilience, while the other exposed increased susceptibility to future similar events.Originality/valueThis research initiative was relevant because it exposed actual resilience. Also, the specificities of the findings enable insights about prevalent vulnerability, in particular the local capacity of response, and that can be used to elaborate concrete earthquake/tsunami disaster scenarios and design local disaster risk reduction interventions.

Scientific evidence on natural disasters and health emergency and disaster risk management in Asian rural-based area.

IntroductionDisaster epidemiological studies indicate that Asia has the highest frequency of natural disasters. Rural communities are heavily impacted by natural disasters and have different healthcare needs to urban ones. Referencing Asian countries, this paper’s objective is to provide an overview of health impacts and the current evidence for designing programmes and policies related to rural health emergency and disaster risk management (health-EDRM).Sources of dataThis paper uses published English-only reports and papers retrieved from PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, Medline and PsycINFO on rural disaster and emergency responses and relief, health impact and disease patterns in Asia (January 2000–January 2018).Areas of agreementEarthquakes are the most studied natural disasters in rural communities. The medical burden and health needs of rural communities were most commonly reported among populations of extreme age. Most of the existing research evidence for rural interventions was reported in China. There lacks published peer-reviewed reports of programme impacts on personal and community preparedness.Areas of controversyThere is a lack of evidence-based health-EDRM interventions to evaluate implementation effectiveness in rural areas despite vast volumes of health-related disaster literature.Growing pointsClimate change-related disasters are increasing in frequency and severity. Evidence is needed for disaster risk reduction interventions to address the health risks specific to rural populations.Areas timely for developing researchTo support global policy development, urgent evidence is needed on the intervention effectiveness, long-term health outcomes, local and cultural relevance as well as sustainability of health relief produced by Health-EDRM programmes in rural areas.

Understanding and measuring scalability in disaster risk reduction

PurposeDespite increased attention to, and investment in, scaling up of disaster risk reduction (DRR), there has been little detailed discussion of scalability. The purpose of this paper is to respond to this critical gap by proposing a definition of scaling up for DRR, what effective scaling up entails, and how to measure and plan for scalability.Design/methodology/approachA literature review of debates, case studies and good practices in DRR and parallel sectors (i.e. education, health and the wider development field) unveiled and enabled the weighting of key concepts that inform scalability. The mixed methods research then developed, validated and employed a scalability assessment framework to examine 20 DRR and five non-DRR initiatives for which a minimum set of evidence was accessible.FindingsSupport from national, regional and/or local authorities strongly influenced the scalability of all initiatives assessed. Currently, insufficient to support effective scaling up, monitoring and evaluation were also found to be critical to both identify potential for and measure scalability.Originality/valueThe paper ends with a scalability assessment and planning tool to measure and monitor the scalability potential of DRR initiatives, highlighting areas for corrective action that can improve the quality and effectiveness of DRR interventions.

The contribution of indigenous knowledge to disaster risk reduction activities in Zimbabwe: A big call to practitioners.

This article examined the contribution of indigenous knowledge to disaster risk reduction activities in Zimbabwe. The current discourse underrates the use of indigenous knowledge of communities by practitioners when dealing with disasters’, as the knowledge is often viewed as outdated and primitive. This study, which was conducted in 2016, sought to examine this problem through analysing the potential contribution of indigenous knowledge as a useful disaster risk reduction intervention. Tsholotsho district in Matabeleland, North province of Zimbabwe, which frequently experiences perennial devastating floods, was used as a case study. Interviews and researcher observations were used to gather data from 40 research participants. The findings were that communities understand weather patterns and could predict imminent flooding after studying trees and clouds, and the behaviours of certain animal species. Local communities also use available local resources to put structural measures in place as part of disaster risk reduction interventions. Despite this important potential, the study found that the indigenous knowledge of disaster risk reduction of the communities is often shunned by practitioners. The practitioners claim that indigenous knowledge lacks documentation, it is not found in all generational classes, it is contextualised to particular communities and the knowledge cannot be scientifically validated. The study concluded that both local communities and disaster risk reduction practitioners can benefit from the indigenous knowledge of communities. This research has the potential to benefit communities, policymakers and disaster risk reduction practitioners.

Climate change adaptation-disaster risk reduction nexus: case study from Ethiopia

PurposeThe recently released fifth IPCC report indicates a high agreement among global actors on the need to integrate climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR). However, there remains little local level evidence on how DRR and CCA could be linked, the sorts of adjustments that are required for the two concepts to be integrated and the challenges ahead. This paper aims to provide an empirical insight on the possible links and departures between DRR and CCA.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a qualitative case study approach to excavate lessons from an existing DRR intervention for CCA using a local-level adaptive capacity assessment framework as a normative criteria. Data was collected both from primary and secondary sources. The primary data collection involved the use of participatory rural appraisal techniques with village communities in Chifra District, Afar Regional State, Ethiopia.FindingsThe findings showed that the DRR interventions studied addressed parts of the elements of adaptive capacity at the local level. The findings also showed the limitation of the DRR intervention, which could be attributed to both the nature of the DRR interventions in general and implementation problems of the case study intervention in particular. The limitations show cases where full integration of DRR with CCA could be challenging.Originality/valueThe paper argues why the two approaches may not be integrated fully and also shows the need to focus on the design of DRR interventions in achieving both short-term (reducing disaster risks) and long-term objectives (enhancing adaptive capacity).

The GIRRL program: A human rights based approach to disaster risk reduction intervention in Southern Africa

Gender equality and female empowerment face many challenges within the Southern Africa region. Failures to ensure equality across all social groups creates pockets of people that face differential access to power and resources. This differential access can impede people's ability to adequately prepare for and rebound from adversity. The paper highlights the importance of human rights as a means of promoting equality and reducing discriminatory practices to limit access to resources and power. The Girls In Risk Reduction Leadership (GIRRL) Program was developed in response to the need for addressing the unequal social conditions which created and reinforced the vulnerability of adolescent girls in Southern Africa. A multiple case study approach was engaged utilizing interviews, focus groups, direct observations and key document reviews. The research uses the Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) to present the value of the GIRRL Program's contributions to addressing disaster risk in Southern Africa.

Measuring Resilience Capability of Drought-prone Desert Communities: A Case Study of Tharparkar, Pakistan

The purpose of this paper is to propose a mathematical index to measure the resilient capability of drought-prone desert communities in Tharparkar, Pakistan. The paper analyses the constructs and definitions of the term resilience, describes the concept and practical applications of the integrated programming approach, present key findings of the integrated vulnerability and capacity assessment at the community level and provides a unique method for measuring disaster resilient communities following the process and output indicators. Ten process and eight outcome standards with 50 and 94 resilience indicators respectively were applied to measure the resilience capability of the community. The overall resilience index of the community was 51%. The overall process value of the community was 56% whereas the outcome value was 45%. This method of resilience measurement can be used for comparing the resilience status of the communities, progress monitoring and impact evaluation of any disaster risk reduction and resilience building interventions. The research findings provide a unique method for measuring community resilience capability in any hazard prone areas. The overall resilience index is site and context specific and should not be loosely used. However, the overall method and the mathematical index can be widely applicable. The tool can be used for baseline survey, progress monitoring and final evaluation of a disaster risk reduction interventions at the community level and final evaluation. The tool is simple, participatory, less time and cost consuming and requires less sophisticated data for the calculation. A wide application of the tool in various hazards and different social-economic and cultural contexts is recommended

Vulnerability assessments, identity and spatial scale challenges in disaster-risk reduction

Current approaches to vulnerability assessment for disaster-risk reduction (DRR) commonly apply generalised, a priori determinants of vulnerability to particular hazards in particular places. Although they may allow for policy-level legibility at high levels of spatial scale, these approaches suffer from attribution problems that become more acute as the level of analysis is localised and the population under investigation experiences greater vulnerability. In this article, we locate the source of this problem in a spatial scale mismatch between the essentialist framings of identity behind these generalised determinants of vulnerability and the intersectional, situational character of identity in the places where DRR interventions are designed and implemented. Using the Livelihoods as Intimate Government (LIG) approach to identify and understand different vulnerabilities to flooding in a community in southern Zambia, we empirically demonstrate how essentialist framings of identity produce this mismatch. Further, we illustrate a means of operationalising intersectional, situational framings of identity to achieve greater and more productive understandings of hazard vulnerability than available through the application of general determinants of vulnerability to specific places and cases.