Title: | Rural people, vulnerability, and flood disasters in the Third World |
Author: | Cannon, Terry |
Year: | 1990 |
Issue: | 90 |
Pages: | 27 |
Language: | English |
Series: | Working papers, General series (ISSN 0921-0210) |
City of publisher: | The Hague |
Publisher: | Institute of Social Studies |
Geographic term: | developing countries |
Subject: | floods |
External link: | https://hdl.handle.net/1765/18806 |
Abstract: | Floods are the most widespread of all hazards, and may even affect places which at other times are prone to drought. Some flood hazards are entirely a product of the natural environment. But this is not the same thing as saying that disasters which appear to be caused by floods are natural disasters. Disasters occur when people and their livelihood systems are vulnerable to such hazards. Vulnerability is a product of human-created environments which locate people and their livelihood systems in hazard-prone places, and human-created economic and social systems which allocate societies' resources to the detriment of some groups and the advantage of others. This paper examines patterns of vulnerability to floods and policy responses, arguing that the conventional methods of precautionary behaviour often fail to (or are unable to) take account of vulnerability. |