1. Key terminology in VCA
Hazard: Phenomena or situation, which has the potential to cause disruption or damage to
people, their property, services and environment.
Examples: flood; land slide; earthquake; war.
Disaster: Any event, natural or man-made, which threatens human lives, damages private
and public property, infrastructure and environment, and disrupts social and economic life.
Onset of disasters can be sudden (e.g. earthquake) or progressive (e.g. certain floods).
Risk: quantifiable measure of expected losses due to a hazard event of a particular
magnitude occurring in a given area over a specific time period.
Vulnerability: is the extent to which a community, structure, service or geographical area is
likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of a particular hazard. The areas and the
infrastructures which are most likely to be affected by the disaster are the vulnerable places.
People who are living in these areas/infrastructures are vulnerable people.
Examples: house location in hazardous areas; house poorly constructed.
Capacity: a set of positive conditions or abilities which increases a community’s /
individual’s ability to deal with hazards. This includes all resources and skills available that
help reducing the impact of a disaster.
Examples: a community trained in disaster management, for instance with: established task
forces (for: early warning; search, rescue and evacuation; shelter management); community
having participated in mock drills. Good socio-economic condition (e.g. to face increasing
food prices linked to a disaster).
This leads us to the following equation:
Disaster Risk = Hazard x Vulnerability / Capacity