Essay Sample on Capacity vs Vulnerability: Emergency Preparedness

There are various differences which exist between the vulnerability and capacity. Capacities are usually the strong points of individuals, whereas vulnerability is considered to be factors that undermine the ability of the people in the community when it comes to tackling emergency issues such as natural disasters. Also, capacities are usually gradually formed; hence, they are not reliable when the disaster occurs while vulnerabilities are rapidly formed; therefore, it is reliable when solving the emerging issue such as flooding. Moreover, capacities are based on the idea of beliefs when handling matters relating to disaster control while Vulnerabilities are self-driven on their ideas; hence, they are able to make their own decision on how to cope with the challenges such as a disaster.

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Also, capacities and vulnerabilities do differ in terms of physical, social, and motivational Physical capacities and vulnerabilities are natural occurring things for instance land, environment and climate which is the ecological habitat of every human beings before the occurrence of disasters such as housing problems, health, inadequate foods and the issue of water shortage (Becker, 2016, 18).Physical capacities and vulnerabilities are valued by the people because even after the event of a crisis, both genders (men and women) are able to recover their properties together with their skills. Also, in physical vulnerability, women are considered to be more creative than men when it comes to decision making in a given organization because women are involved in activities such as time management, education, and the planning of the organizational activities (Cortez, Kinniburgh, and Mollerus, 2014, 34)

In social vulnerabilities, there is limited opportunity to get access to matters concerning the crisis which might have occurred; hence, the grievances of the people are not be adequately addressed by those who are in charge of it.

Motivational capacity is a situation where men and women are given equal opportunities to lay down their problems. Motivational capacities are based on the issue of inclusivity. Women are given equal opportunities when it comes to matters relating to decision making. The issue of vulnerability and capacity has also been portrayed in Mozambique when the tropical cyclone occurred in Idai, specifically the area of Beira. The region is thought to have experienced a lot of challenges; for instance, blockage of roads, displacement of people injuries, and destruction of their properties. Many people were displaced from their original homelands hence exposing them to more suffering (Huggett, 2014, 34). The issue of displacement was solved through the provision of shelter and food to the affected families together with the people with disabilities. Cyclonic clone also caused a lot of problems to the citizens of Mozambique since it ended up affecting in their hygienic. The hygienic of the people were affected by the destruction of water sources. Also, water accessed was discovered to be a significant challenge that arose during the time of cyclonic in which it limits the people from performing their usual activities such as the washing of clothes. They used vulnerabilities to prevent the damage to the water sources, therefore, controlling the issue of water-borne diseases. The issue of Water-borne diseases and other diseases has been controlled through the use of soaps which was used in washing their hands hence preventing the infections of germs into their skins. Also, Vulnerabilities have played a significant role amongst the residents of Mozambique since measures such as the use of buckets have been put across so as to help them to store water (Zakour,Gillespie, 2013, 23). Moreover, dirty water, which resulted due to cyclonic, have been purified by the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) so as to make it safe for consumption by the human being. Furthermore, the cyclonic, which occurred, brought a lot of problems such as floods, therefore, leading to loss of lives by the citizens of Mozambique. The floods have resulted in the problems of stagnation of water, therefore, leading to poor hygiene among the residents of Mozambique. Diseases such as malaria have been one of the significant challenges which were caused by massive floods during the cyclonic process. Vulnerabilities have assisted in solving the problem of flooding through the use of advocation of more health programs so as to look upon the emergency disasters which may occur in the region.

References

Becker, D.M., Tafoya, C.A., Becker, S.L., Kruger, G.H., Tafoya, M.J., and Becker, T.K., 2016. The use of portable ultrasound devices in lowand middleincome countries: a systematic review of the literature. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 21(3), pp.294-311.

Cortez, A.L., Kinniburgh, I., and Mollerus, R., 2014. Accelerating development in the least developed countries through international support measures: findings from country case studies. UN.

Huggett, J.A., 2014. Mesoscale distribution and community composition of zooplankton in the Mozambique Channel. Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 100, pp.119-135.

Zakour, M.J., and Gillespie, D.F., 2013. The Development Perspective on Vulnerability. In Community Disaster Vulnerability (pp. 37-53). Springer, New York, NY.