Vulnerability

The third, and least well understood driver of risk to floods and droughts, is the vulnerability. Vulnerability can change substantially in time, and it is often much more volatile than hazard and exposure. Current research focuses on assessing which drivers contribute to vulnerability. For assets, these factors are related to physical characteristics and how assets are maintained or construced. The vulnerability of people (social vulnerability) is related to demographic (age, gender), economic, institutional, and environmental drivers. Social vulnerability has an influence on the adaptive capacity of people and thus on physical vulnerability.

Within this theme we will focus on 5 research topics:

1. Vulnerability of buildings
2. Vulnerability of infrastructure
3. Social vulnerability
4. Vulnerability and Disaster Risk Management
5. Equitable sharing of risks