Abstract
This article constitutes an effort towards providing an academic overview and grounding for the concept of capacities in the context of disaster studies and disaster risk reduction. Capacities refer to the set of diverse knowledge, skills and resources people can claim, access and resort to in dealing with hazards and disasters. They are both an individual and collective attributes. Everyone possesses a unique set of knowledge, skills and resources that are often shared and combined with those of relatives, kin, neighbours, etc. People’s capacities are not necessarily place based, but they are endogenous to the community of people who share and combine them in dealing with the same hazards and disasters. They further reflect people’s everyday life as it is very seldom that those affected by disasters resort to extraordinary measures to face harmful events. In practice, capacities allow for active prevention to avoid hazards to occur in the first place. They are further tapped to foster preparedness in facing impending hazards and respond to disasters. Capacities also prove invaluable in coping with the lingering effects of disasters and in recovering on the longer term. Harnessing capacities should therefore be an integral part of disaster risk reduction strategies as recognised in the widespread practice of vulnerability and capacity/ies assessment. Ultimately, harnessing capacities for reducing the risk of disaster requires to foster people’s genuine participation in assessing and enhancing their existing knowledge, skills and resources.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmed I, Fuenfgeld H, McEvoy D (2011) Integrated disaster and climate change participatory capacity and vulnerability analysis (PCVA) toolkit for community-based fieldworkers. Oxfam Australia/RMIT University, Melbourne
All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (2006) Supporting local capacities: from jargon to impact. Southasiadisasters.net 18
Anderson WA (1965) Some observations on a disaster subculture: the organizational response of Cincinnati, Ohio, to the 1964 flood. Research note. 6, Columbus Disaster Research Center, The Ohio State University, Colombus
Anderson MB, Woodrow PJ (1989) Rising from the ashes: development strategies in times of disasters. Westview Press, Boulder
Anderson MB, Woodrow PJ (1991) Vulnerability to drought and famine: developmental approaches to relief. Disasters 15(1):43–54
Barrameda TV, Barameda ASV (2011) Rebuilding communities and lives: the role of Damayan and Bayanihan in disaster resiliency. Philipp J Soc Dev 3:132–151
Bhatt MR (1998) Can vulnerability be understood? In: Twigg J, Bhatt MR (eds) Understanding vulnerability: South Asian perspectives. Intermediate Technology Publications, London, pp 68–77
Bhatt M, Pandya M (2006) Rethinking capacity for disaster development risk reduction: lessons from bottom UP. In: Global future search meeting—rethinking capacity development for disaster risk reduction: action 2005–2015, 13–15 Feb 2006, Geneva
Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative (nd) Basics of capacity development for disaster risk reduction. Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative, Geneva
Chambers R (1983) Rural development: putting the last first. Longmans, London
Chambers R (2007) From PRA to PLA and pluralism: practice and theory. Institute of Development Studies, Brighton
Cooke B, Kothari U (eds) (2001) Participation: the new tyranny?. Zed Books, London
Cuny F (1983) Disaster and development. Oxford University Press, New York
Davis I, Haghebeart B, Peppiatt D (2004) Social vulnerability and capacity analysis. In: Discussion paper and workshop report, ProVention Consortium, Geneva
Dazé A, Ambrose K, Ehrhart C (2009) Climate vulnerability and capacity analysis handbook. CARE International, Geneva
de Dios HB (2002) Participatory capacities and vulnerabilities assessment: finding the link between disasters and development. Oxfam GB-Philippines Programme, Quezon City
Delica ZG (1993) Citizenry-based disaster preparedness in the Philippines. Disasters 17(3):239–247
Delica-Willison Z, Gaillard JC (2012) Community action and disaster. In: Wisner B, Gaillard JC, Kelman I (eds) Handbook of hazards and disaster risk reduction. Routledge, London, pp 711–722
Eade D (2007) Capacity building: Who builds whose capacity? Dev Pract 17(4–5):630–639
Eriksen C (2007) Why do they burn the ‘bush’? Fire, rural livelihoods, and conservation in Zambia. Geogr J 173(3):242–256
Few R, Scott Z, Wooster K, Avila MF, Tarazona M, Thomson A (2015) Strategic research into national and local capacity building for DRM: synthesis report. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva
Freire P (1970) Pedagogy of the oppressed. Bloomsbury, New York
Gaillard JC, Cadag JR (2009) From marginality to further marginalization: experiences from the victims of the July 2000 Payatas trashslide in the Philippines. Jàmbá J Disaster Risk Stud 2(3):195–213
Gaillard JC, Mercer J (2013) From knowledge to action: bridging gaps in disaster risk reduction. Prog Hum Geogr 37(1):93–114
Gaillard JC, Clavé E, Vibert O, Azhari Dedi, Denain JC, Efendi Y, Grancher D, Liamzon CC, Sari DSR, Setiawan R (2008) Ethnic groups’ response to the 26 December 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia. Nat Hazards 47(1):17–38
Gaillard JC, Sanz K, Balgos BC, Dalisay SNM, Gorman-Murray A, Smith F, Toelupe V (2017) Beyond men and women: a critical perspective on gender and disaster. Disasters 41(3):429–447
Goodman RM, Speers MA, McLeroy K, Fawcett S, Kegler M, Parker E, Smith SR, Sterling TD, Wallerstein N (1998) Identifying and defining the dimensions of community capacity to provide a basis for measurement. Health Educ Behav 25(3):258–278
Granot H (1996) Disaster subcultures. Disaster Prev Manag 5(4):36–40
Hall BL (1978) Creating knowledge: breaking the monopoly—research methods, participation and development. International Council for Adult Education, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris
Heijmans A, Victoria LP (2001) Citizenry-based and development oriented disaster response: experiences and practices in disaster management of the citizens’ disaster response network in the Philippines. Center for Disaster Preparedness, Quezon City
Hewitt K (ed) (1983) Interpretations of calamity from the viewpoint of human ecology. Allen & Unwin, London
Hudson J, Hughes E (2007) The role of marae and maori communities in post-disaster recovery: a case study. GNS Science Report 2007/15, GNS Science, Lower Hutt
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2007) VCA toolbox with reference sheets. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva
Kaplan A (2000) Capacity building: shifting the paradigms of practice. Dev Pract 10(3–4):517–526
Kendra J, Wachtendorf T (2006) Improvisation, creativity, and the art of emergency management. Preliminary paper 357, Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, Newark
Kendra J, Wachtendorf T (2016) American Dunkirk: the waterborne evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11. Temple University Press, Philadelphia
Kimura T (2016) Revival of local festivals and religion after the Great East Japan Earthquake. J Relig Jpn 5(2–3):227–245
Kuban R, MacKenzie-Carey H (2001) Community-wide vulnerability and capacity assessment (CVCA). Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness, Ottawa
Le Dé L, Gaillard JC, Friesen W (2013) Remittances and disaster: a review. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 4(1):34–43
Lewis HT (1989) Ecological and technological knowledge of fire: aborigines versus park rangers in Northern Australia. Am Anthropol 91(4):940–961
Luna EM (2003) Endogenous system of response to river flooding as a disaster subculture: a case study of Bula, Camarines Sur. Philipp Sociol Rev 51:135–153
Maskrey A (1989) Disaster mitigation: a community based approach. Development Guidelines 3, Oxfam, Oxford
McDaniel J, Kennard D, Fuentes A (2005) Smokey the tapir: traditional fire knowledge and fire prevention campaigns in lowland Bolivia. Soc Nat Resour 18(10):921–931
Miichi K (2016) Playful relief: folk performing arts in Japan after the 2011 tsunami. Asian Ethnol 75(1):139–162
Nussbaum M (2011) Creating capabilities: the human development approach. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
O’Keefe P, Westgate K, Wisner B (1976) Taking the naturalness out of natural disasters. Nature 260(5552):566–567
Oliver-Smith A (1994) Peru’s five hundred year earthquake: vulnerability in historical context. In: Varley A (ed) Disasters, development and environment. Wiley, Chichester, pp 3–48
Quarantelli EL (1986–1987) Le jour où le désastre frappera vous serez admirable. Le Temps Stratégique. Hiver 75–80
Quarantelli EL, Dynes RR (1972) When disaster strikes: it isn’t much like what you’ve heard and read about. Psychol Today 5(9):66–70
Rampengan M, Law L, Gaillard JC, Boedhihartono I, Sayer J (2014) Capacities in facing natural hazards: a small island perspective. Int J Disaster Risk Sci 5(4):247–264
Rappaport J (1984) Studies in empowerment: introduction to the issue. Prev Interv Community 3(2–3):1–7
Saxena NC (1998) What is meant by people’s participation? J Rural Dev 17(1):111–113
Sen A (1993) Capability and wellbeing. In: Sen A, Nussbaum M (eds) The quality of life. Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp 30–66
Shrestha S (2016) Adrista sangharsaharu, sthaniya sabalta: exploring recovery from small-scale disasters—examples from remote Nepal. Ph.D. thesis, The University of Auckland, Auckland
Smit B, Wandel J (2006) Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability. Glob Environ Change 16(3):282–292
Treadaway J (2007) Dancing, dying, crawling, crying: stories of continuity and change in the Polynesian community of Tikopia. IPS Publications, The University of the South Pacific, Suva
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (2004) Living with risk: a global review of disaster reduction initiatives. United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Geneva
United Nations International Strategy or Disaster Reduction (2009) 2009 UNISDR terminology on disaster risk reduction. United Nations International Strategy or Disaster Reduction, Geneva
Vietnam Red Cross Society (2000) Disaster preparedness manual. Vietnam Red Cross Society, Hanoi
Wenger DE (1978) Community response to disaster: functional and structural alternations. In: Quarantelli EL (ed) Disasters: theory and research. Sage Publications Ltd., London, pp 17–47
Wenger DE, Weller JM (1973) Disaster subcultures: the cultural residues of community disasters. Preliminary paper 9, Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, Newark
Wilson GA (2013) Community resilience, social memory and the post-2010 Christchurch (New Zealand) earthquakes. Area 45(2):207–215
Wisner B (2004) Assessment of capability and vulnerability. In: Bankoff G, Hilhorst D, Frerks G (eds) Mapping vulnerability: disasters, development and people. Earthscan, London, pp 183–193
Wisner B (2006) Self-assessment of coping capacity: participatory, proactive and qualitative engagement of communities in their own risk management. In: Birkmann J (ed) Measuring vulnerability to natural hazard: towards disaster resilient societies. United Nations University, Tokyo, pp 328–340
Wisner B (2016) Vulnerability as concept, model, metric, and tool. In: Cutter SL (ed) Oxfordresearch encyclopedia: natural hazard science. Oxford University Press, Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389407.013.25
Wisner B, O’Keefe P, Westgate K (1977) Global systems and local disasters: the untapped power of peoples’ science. Disasters 1(1):47–57
Wisner B, Blaikie P, Cannon T, Davis I (2004) At risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability, and disasters, 2nd edn. Routledge, London
Wisner B, Gaillard JC, Kelman I (eds) (2012) Handbook of hazards and disaster risk reduction. Routledge, London
Wisner B, Gaillard JC, Kelman K (2014) Hazard, vulnerability, capacity, risk and participation. In: Lopez-Carresi A, Fordham M, Wisner B, Kelman I, Gaillard JC (eds) Disaster management: international lessons in risk reduction, response and recovery. Earthscan, London, pp 13–22
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gaillard, J.C., Cadag, J.R.D. & Rampengan, M.M.F. People’s capacities in facing hazards and disasters: an overview. Nat Hazards 95, 863–876 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-018-3519-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-018-3519-1