Web Ecology (Feb 2016)

Vulnerability, resilience, hazard, risk, damage, and loss: a socio-ecological framework for natural disaster analysis

  • M. Modica,
  • R. Zoboli

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/we-16-59-2016
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 1
pp. 59 – 62

Abstract

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Evaluating socio-economic losses due to natural disasters is a challenging task because of the combined complexity of the social and ecological systems affected. However, also under pressure from the expected effects of climate change, evaluating the socio-economic costs of natural catastrophes has become a vital need for policy makers, urban planners, and private agents (such as insurance companies and banks). This paper suggests a general framework encompassing all the important concepts which should be taken into account by the above agents in the assessment of natural disasters. In particular, we propose a simple and consistent set of relationships among vulnerability, resilience, hazard, risk, damage, and loss which can guide socio-economic assessment.