Quarter 1 – Module 3:

Elements at Risk and Exposed to Hazards

What I Need to Know

The severity of the impacts of disasters and other extreme weather and
climate events depends strongly on the level of vulnerability and exposure to these
events. Trends in vulnerability and exposure are major drivers of changes in disaster
risk and of impacts when risk is realized. Understanding the multi-faceted nature of
vulnerability and exposure is a prerequisite for determining how natural hazards and
climate events contribute to the occurrence of disasters, and for designing and
implementing effective adaptation and disaster risk management strategies.

• Lesson 1 – Elements Exposed to Hazards

• Lesson 2 – Elements at Risk and Exposed to Hazards

Learning Objectives
After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. Determine the elements that are exposed to a particular hazard.

2. Recognize vulnerabilities of different elements exposed to specific
hazards.
3. Differentiate among hazards, exposure, and vulnerabilities and give
examples from actual situation.

What I Know

Multiple Choice:

1. It is a serious disruption of the functioning community or a

widespread human, material, economic, or environmental losses.

a. vulnerability b. disaster c. disaster risk d. hazard

2. It is a chance or likelihood of suffering harm and loss as a result of a

hazardous event.

a. vulnerability b. disaster c. disaster risk d. hazard

3. It is a set of prevailing or consequential conditions, which adversely

affect the community’s ability to prevent, mitigate, prepare for and
respond to hazardous events.

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a. vulnerability b. disaster c. disaster risk d. hazard

4. Disaster is frequently described as a result of various condition

except __________________.

a. exposure to hazard
b. conditions of vulnerability at present
c. having enough physical, social, and attitudinal capabilities
d. insufficient capacity or measures to cope with disasters

5. It is a situation or occurrence with capacity to bring damages to lives,

properties, and the environment.

a. hazard b. elements at risk

c. capacity d. vulnerability

Key to answers on page 11

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Lesson
1 Elements Exposed to Hazards

What’s In
A disaster is a result of a vast ecological breakdown in the relation
between humans and their environment; a serious or sudden event on such a scale
that the stricken community needs extraordinary efforts to cope with it, often with
outside help or international aid.
Disaster is analyzed from different perspectives as follows, physical
perspective, Psychological Perspective, Socio-Cultural Perspective, Economic
Perspective, Political Perspective, and Environmental Perspective.

What’s New
Answer the following questions:
1. Give a specific a hazard related to fire.
2. What are exposed elements that are exposed and
vulnerable to each of these hazards?
What is it
Exposure refers to the presence of people, livelihood, environmental services
and resources, infrastructure, or economic, social, or cultural assets in places that
could be adversely affected by physical events and which, thereby, are subject to
potential future harm, loss, or damage. It may be possible to be exposed but not
vulnerable.
Elements at risk include the following:
1. Human beings
2. Dwellings or households and communities;
3. Buildings and structures
4. Public facilities and infrastructure assets;
5. Public and transport system;
6. Agricultural commodities; and
7. Environmental assests.

Various Elements Exposed to Hazards

1. Physical Hazard – is defined as “a factor within the environment that can

harm the body without necessarily touching it. Example,
vibration and noise.

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2. Cultural Hazard – also known as social hazards, result from your location,
socioeconomic status, occupation and behavioral choices.

3. Economic hazard – refers to major natural disasters which can and do

have severe negative short-run economic impacts.

4. Environmental Hazard – refers to state of events which has the potential

to threathen the surrounding natural enviroment and
adversely affect people’s health.

What’s More
Enumerate the different elements exposed to hazards.

What I Have Learned

Choose 1 example of hazard (i.e., flooding, environmental degradation, etc.)
and write an article about the issue.
Explain your standing and your analysis if it is preventable or not and how it
can be prevented.

What I Can Do
As a Senior High student, what help can you extend to your community so that
the people will be informed of the elements that are exposed to hazards.

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Lesson
2 Elements at Risk and Exposed to
Hazards
What’s In
Vulnerability can be seen as the result of a process in which various
different things cause a population to be more vulnerable. These can be split into
demographic and socio-economic. They can also be discussed through the level of
community preparedness and the ability of a community to manage the after effects
of a hazard event.
There are many aspects of vulnerability, arising from various physical,
social, economic, and environmental factors.
The Philippines is known to be very vulnerable to different kinds of
disasters, hence there is a need for strategies to increase awareness, information
campaign and disaster preparedness level among the Filipinos.

What’s New
Enumerate the different elements exposed to hazards.

What is it
Vulnerability to Specific Hazards
There are many aspects of vulnerability, arising from various physical,
social, economic, and environemntal factors. Examples may include:
• Poor design and construction of buildings and other infrastructures;
• Inadequate protection measures of assets;
• Lack of public information and awarenesss;
• Limited official recognition of riks and preparedness measures, and
• Disregard for wise environmental management. (ADPC, 2012)

ADPC further emphasized that vulnerability varies significantly within a community

and over time. This defintion identifies vulnerability as a characteristic of the element
of ineterst (community, system or asset) which is independent of its exposure.
However, in common use, the word is often used more broadly to include the
element’s exposure.
Acoording to the UNISDR, there are four (4) main types of vulnerability:

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1. Physical Vulnerability may be determined by aspects such as population density
levels, remoteness of a setttlement, the site, design and materials used for critical
infrastructure and for housing United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction (UNISDR)

2. Social Vulnerability refers to the inability of people, organizations and societies to

withstand advers impacts to hazards due to characteristics inherent in social
interactions, institutions and systems of cultural values.
3. Economic Vulnerability – The level of vulnerability is highly dependent upon the
economic status of individuals, communities and nations. The poor are usually more
vulnerable to disasters because they lack the resources to build sturdy structures
and put other engineering measures in place to protect themselves from being
negatively impacted by disasters. The same people are the least prepared due to
lack of access to education and information.
4. Environmental Vulnerability. Natural resource depletion and resource degradation
are key aspects of environmental vulnerability. This is one aspect that both
communities and government must be sensitive about. Mitigation measures like
reforestation and natural resource protection and conservation must be undertaken
to reduce natural disaster risk and vulnerability.

Elements at Risk and Exposed to Hazards

Persons, houses, buildings, infrastructures, transportation systems, financial
establishements, crops, environmental sources of living, and others like societal
components exposed to known hazard, which are likely to be adversely by the
impact of hazard.

Risk Factors
Risk signifies the possibililty of the adverse effects in the future. It is derived
from the interaction of social and environemental processes, from the combination of
physical hazards and the vulnerabilities of exposed elements.

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Fig. 1 – Triagram of Disaster Risk
(Source: Geoscience, Australia)

Earthquake
VU
Tsunami H LN
Floods AZ ER Engineering
Cyclones AR AB Economic
Bushfires Social
D ILI
Landslides
Volcanoes TY
RISK

EXPOSURE

People
Buildings
Businesses
Infrastructure

The diagram illustrates the concept of risk which combines an understanding

of the likelihood of a hazardous event occuring with an assessment of its impact
where:

Risk = Hazard X Exposure X Vulnerability

Capacity

The left side of the triagram shows the different natural hazards that may
occur in an area at any given period of time. The base of the triagram indicates the
different elements exposed to hazard/disaster.On the right side, factors and
elements of vulnerability are presented.

Philippine Exposure and Vulnerabilities to Natural Disasters

According to a report, eight of 10 world cities most exposed to natural hazards

are in the Philippines and more than half of the 100 cities most exposed to
earthquakes, storms and other disasters are in four Asian nations, according to
research. (Philippine Star, 2014)
The study, published by risk analysis firm Verisk Maplecroft, analyzed the
threat posed by storms, floods, erathquakes, tsunamis, fires, volcanoes and
landslides in more than 1,300 cities.
The study found that the 10 cities most at risk are Port Vila in Vanuatu
followed by Tuguegarao in Cagayan, Lucena in Quezon province, (4) Manila, (5) San

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Fernando in Pampanga, (6) San Carlos (The report did not indicate which province
in the Philippines but most likely in Pangasinan). and 10 Naga in Bicol Region.
The study also found that of the 100 cities with the greatest exposure to
natural hazards, 21 are in the Philippines, 16 in China, 11 in Japan and 8 in
Bangladesh.

Philippines Vulnerabilities to Natural Disaster

The following bullet statements explaijn why the Philippines is vulnerable to

natural disasters specifically from the effects of climate change (Climate Change
Primer Manuscript, 2014):
• The Philippines lies in the Pacific typhoon belt and we are visited by an
average of 20 typhoons every year.
• The rugged nature of our landscape makes our communities very vulnerable
to landslide, mudflows and other disaster.
• The Philippines is an archipilagic country with many small islands.
• Many our areas are also at or below sea level, and this us vulnerable to
flooding and worst, inundationwith rise in the sea level.
• With one of the longest coastlines in the world at 32,400 kilometers, we have
many areas that are vulnerable to storm surges.
• The Philippines is still a primarilly agricultural and fishing economy.
Disruptions in agricultural and fishery production and destruction of our
ecosystem will have devastating effects on our economy and food security.
• Natural hazard risk is compounded in the Philippines by poor instutional and
societal capacity to manage, respond and recover from natural hazard
events.
• The philippines is considered “high risk” in terms of the country’s ability to
manage and mitigate the impacts of natural hazard and in part due to
“entrenched corruption and high levels of poverty” (Rappler, 2014)fau;tb
• Aside from being at risk to typhoons, the Philippines is also at risk to volcanic
eruptions (we have active volcanoes), quakes (several fault lines were
identified) and floods (we have denuded mountains).

What’s More
1. Explain what vulnerability means.
2. Explain the following four (4) types of vulnerability and give examples
for each from actual situations:
a. Environmental vulnerability
b. Physical Vulnerability
c. Social Vulnerability
d. Economic Vulnerability

What I have Learned

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 What is/are the reason/s why the Philippines is vulnerable to natural disasters
specifically from the effects of Climate Change?

What I Can Do
Differentiate among hazards, exposure, and vulnerabilities and give
examples from actual situations.

Assessment
Multiple Choice Test.
1. It refers to the elements at risk from a natural or man-made hazard event.
a. Vulnerability b. Exposure c. Disaster d. Disaster risk
2. Which of the following is NOT an element at risk?
a. Buildings and structures b. Agricultural commodities
c. Human beings c. Rich People
3. It refers to intangible elements such as economic activities and
infrastructure network.
a. vulnerability b. exposure c. disaster d. disaster risk
4. It is the characteristics and circumstances of community, system or asset
that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard.
a. vulnerability b. exposure c. disaster d. disaster risk
5. Which of the following is NOT included as reason why certain sectors of
society are vulnerable to disaster than others?
a. population density b. education
c. distribution of population d. occupation of people
6. Which of the following is NOT considered as demographic factors as a reason
why certain sectors of society are more vulnerable to disaster than others?
a. Age of Population b. Population Density
c. Wealth d. Distribution of Population
7. Which of the following is a socio-economic factor?
a. building codes b. communication networks

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 c. understanding of the area d. air request

8. Outside help in the form of humanitarian aid is necessary during a disaster.

a. insurance cover b. emergency personnel
c. emergency planning d. aid request
9. These are trained for community preparedness.
a. insurance cover b. emergency personnel
c. emergency planning d. aid request
10. This may be determined by aspects such as population density levels,
remoteness of a settlement, the site, design and materials used for critical
infrastructures.
a. physical vulnerability b. social vulnerability
c. economic vulnerability d. environmental vulnerability
11. Which of the following situations is an example of environmental
vulnerability?

a. wooden homes are less likely to collapse in an earthquake, but are

more vulnerable to fire.
b. poorer families my live-in squatter settlements because they cannot
afford to live in safe (more expensive) areas.
c. wetlands, such as Agusan Marsh, are sensitive to increasing salinity
from sea water, and pollution from water runoff containing
agricultural chemicals, eroded soil, etc.
d. when flooding occurs, some citizens, such as children, elderly and
persons with disability, may be unable to protect themselves or
evacuate if necessary.

12. Which of the following situations is an example of physical vulnerability?

a. wooden homes are less likely to collapse in an earthquake, but are
more vulnerable to fire.
b. poorer families my live-in squatter settlements because they cannot
afford to live in safe (more expensive) areas.
c. wetlands, such as Agusan Marsh, are sensitive to increasing salinity
from sea water, and pollution from water runoff containing
agricultural chemicals, eroded soil, etc.
d. when flooding occurs, some citizens, such as children, elderly and
persons with disability, may be unable to protect themselves or
evacuate if necessary.

13. Which of the following situations is an example of economic vulnerability?

a. wooden homes are less likely to collapse in an earthquake, but are

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 more vulnerable to fire.
b. poorer families my live-in squatter settlements because they cannot
afford to live in safe (more expensive) areas.
c. wetlands, such as Agusan Marsh, are sensitive to increasing salinity
from sea water, and pollution from water runoff containing
agricultural chemicals, eroded soil, etc.
d. when flooding occurs, some citizens, such as children, elderly and
persons with disability, may be unable to protect themselves or
evacuate if necessary.

14. Which of the following situations is an example of social vulnerability?

a. wooden homes are less likely to collapse in an earthquake, but are
more vulnerable to fire.
b. poorer families my live-in squatter settlements because they cannot
afford to live in safe (more expensive) areas.
c. wetlands, such as Agusan Marsh, are sensitive to increasing salinity
from sea water, and pollution from water runoff containing
agricultural chemicals, eroded soil, etc.
d. when flooding occurs, some citizens, such as children, elderly and
persons with disability, may be unable to protect themselves or
evacuate if necessary.

15. What are the three factors of risk?

a. hazard, risk, capacity b. hazard, vulnerability, exposure
c. risk, exposure, vulnerability d.exposure,capacity, vulnerability

Key to answers on page 11

Additional Activities
Identify in your areas/locations where you lived, where it is likely vulnerable to
natural or man-made disaster.

Answers to Questions
Pre-Test

1. B
2. B
3.A
4.C
5.B

Assessment
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 1. B 6. C 11. C
2.C 7. C 12. A
3.B 8. D 13. B
4.A 9. B 14. D
5.D 10. A 15. B

-End of Module-

Reference

Quebral, Villamor S, 2016. Disaster Readiness & Risk Reduction. Quezon City, Metro Manila, Lorimar
Publishing Inc.

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