Online Geography Resources

Vulnerable Populations

IB DP Geography - Hazards and Disasters

Starter

Vulnerability

The susceptibility of a community to a hazard or to the impacts of a hazard event.

Image: Haiti Earthquake, a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivative-Works (2.0) image from unitednationsdevelopmentprogramme's photostream

What has made this girl vulnerable to a hazard event?

Activities - Factors affecting Vulnerability

Challenge Task

Find an extended example/mini-case study for each of the following 12 factors that affect vulnerability.

In exam conditions you should be able to give an example of each so that you can advance up the mark scheme beyond 'generalized'.

Demographic Factors

1 Size of Vulnerable Population | 2 Population Density

Socio-economic Factors

3 A Country's Level of Development | 4 An Individual's Wealth

Community Preparedness

5 Public Education | 6 Recent Hazard Events | 7 Early Warning Systems | 8 Building Codes

A Community's Ability to deal with a Hazard Event

9 Governance | 10 Effective Lines of Communication | 11 Emergency Personnel | 12 Insurance Cover

Activities - Why are some sectors of the population more vulnerable than others?

Using most of the sources below produce a detailed essay plan for the following question:

For one or more hazards of your choice, explain how some sectors of a population are more vulnerable than others [10 Marks]

Children - Sichuan Earthquake, China, 2008

China releases earthquake death toll of children [7 May 2009]

Women - Boxing Day Tsunami, Indonesia, 2004

Four times as many women died in tsunami [26 March 2005]

Migrants - Landslides in Cairo, Egypt, 2008

Egypt winds up landslide rescue [16 September 2008]

Minority Groups - Hurricane Katrina, USA, 2005

The Geography of Social Vulnerability: Race, Class, and Catastrophe [11 June 2006]

Age Characteristics of Areas Flooded by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans

Source

Racial Characteristics of Areas Flooded by Hurricane Katina in New Orleans

This map of New Orleans shows flooding and racial demographics in September 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. African Americans were 67 percent of the total population of New Orleans, but 75 percent of the population in the flooded areas. | Source

Review

Click on the 'Where they were found' map to view a larger version:

Where they were found | mlharges

Brainstorm the short response (3-6) mark questions that you could be asked in the exam if the above map was provided as a source.