Being Vulnerable Essay

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What is vulnerability? When asked such a simple question, very few people know how to answer in a way that can narrow the broad topic of “being vulnerable” into a clear statement. The reason that is it so hard to explain what vulnerability truly means is because there are so many different ways that the word can be looked at. Vulnerability can be narrowed down into groups of physical, economic, social, and environmental. All of these narrowed down topics have the main theme of hazardous impacts on people, places, and things, but, when in the event of a natural disaster, each of these different types of vulnerabilities can effect an individual in extremely different ways. In most cases, when a disaster hits, most people’s first thoughts are of the people who are vulnerable because they lack the basic care and necessities that could help them safely get through a natural disaster. If there is any sign of vulnerability wherever a natural disaster is planned to happen, then the impact of the disaster has a much greater effect on the individuals. For example, Hurricane Katrina hit an area where the most vulnerable groups of people were housed and” individuals and households lacked the resources to evacuate” (Tierney et al. 76). This is a good example of how being physically vulnerable can …show more content…

Jane Fielding states that “poorer people may be less likely to have sufficient available financial resources to cover them during an emergency”. She also states that people with insufficient funds are “less able to carry on their jobs if they are temporarily displaced from their home”. This shows the more known side of the word “vulnerability” versus reasons that are social or environmental, most people who are vulnerable suffer from low income which limits them from preparing for a disaster and also limits them from being able to get on their feet and continue on after a disaster has

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