**2.6 Risk**

Risk is connected choice and probability [11]. Choice by the decisions we make. We build in flood zones, we develop seaside resorts, and we ignore all but the

**7**

flooding.

*Disaster Management: A State-of-the-Art Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94489*

disaster drills or not.

**2.7 Vulnerability**

complete [12].

**2.8 Resilience**

susceptibility to disaster.

**3. Emergency management**

actions should be included [16].

future, always uncertain.

*in the future. ([11], p. 47).*

most active fault lines when looking at real estate. We buy fire insurance or not. We upgrade the old building to comply with seismic billing codes or not. We run

Probability is the other face of risk. Risk is an abstract concept, forever in the

*Risk is a complex and, at the same time, curious concept. It represents something unreal, related to random chance and possibility, with something that still has not happened. It is imaginary, difficult to grasp and can never exist in the present, only* 

Vulnerability will create harm from the hazard. A predisposition to be harmed, intrinsic to the organization or organism is its vulnerability [11]. Poverty, age, gender, racial identification, geography, and many social, economic, and political factors are all parts. The vulnerability can accumulate until recovery is

The ability to adapt is central to an organization's ability to resist and rebound from disaster [13]. Resilience is woven through all aspects of disaster management—from preparation through mitigation, response, and recovery [12, 14]. Resilience alters the disaster threshold. The more resilient a system, the more harm can be absorbed before the system is overcome [13]. More resilience means less

Preparation and planning, mitigation, response, and recovery are the basic principles of emergency management [15]. It is called *emergency* management, but should really be called *disaster* management. Necessarily limited to first responders, the title emergency management gives an illusion of control that makes it both "a misnomer and an oxymoron" ([16], p. 5). Regardless of the size of the event's magnitude, management includes all those efforts before, during, and after to minimize physical, social, and economic damages. Both planned and improvised

Preparation occurs before the disaster and includes preventative measures [17]. Disaster preparation, then, can also raise the disaster threshold if the disaster is thus avoided. At least, effects are minimized through planned measures. In our example settlement, prevention of a storm may not have been possible, but prevention of harm was through city planning, weather warning systems, and flood-resistant housing and infrastructure. Food and fuel stores could only be built up before the

Mitigation also includes a component of prevention but is closer to the event than planning. Anything to minimize harms that are not prevented could be considered mitigation. This can be through the reduction of the effects of the hazard, vulnerability of those affected in harm's way. In Tucci, they could build up walls of sandbags to protect their homes. They could moor their boats securely. They could evacuate, or they may have been able to if they had made adequate plans and

preparations. Clearly, all these components are intricately connected.

**Figure 2.** *Hazard, risk, and vulnerability illustrated.* *Disaster Management: A State-of-the-Art Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94489*

most active fault lines when looking at real estate. We buy fire insurance or not. We upgrade the old building to comply with seismic billing codes or not. We run disaster drills or not.

Probability is the other face of risk. Risk is an abstract concept, forever in the future, always uncertain.

*Risk is a complex and, at the same time, curious concept. It represents something unreal, related to random chance and possibility, with something that still has not happened. It is imaginary, difficult to grasp and can never exist in the present, only in the future. ([11], p. 47).*
