Mapping Vulnerability

The authors critically examine "vulnerability" as a concept that is vital to the way we understand the impact and magnitude of disasters. The book is a counterbalance to technocratic approaches that limit themselves to simply looking at natural phenomena. Through the notion of vulnerability the authors stress the importance of social processes and human-environmental interactions as causal agents in the making of disasters. They critically examine what renders communities unsafe, a condition they argue depends primarily on the relative position of advantage or disadvantage that a particular group occupies within a society's social order.Bolstering their theoretical analysis with case studies drawn from Asia, Africa and Latin America, the authors also look at vulnerability in terms of its relationship to development and through its impact on policy and people's lives.