Key concepts A humanitarian crisis is an event or series of events that represents a critical threat to the health, safety, security or well-being of a community or other large group of people, usually over a wide area.54 Risk is the combination of the probability of an event and its negative consequences.55 It is the result of hazardous events interacting with vulnerable social conditions.56 Hazards are potential threats to human life and livelihoods. They include natural hazards and man-made hazards such as conflicts, technological and industrial accidents, as well as other shocks, such as price spikes. Exposure refers to the presence of people, livelihoods, environmental services, resources and infrastructure, or economic, social or cultural assets in places that could be adversely affected.57
“We must stop calling events like these [Typhoon Haiyan/ Yolanda] natural disasters. Disasters are never natural. They are the intersection of factors other than physical. They are the accumulation of the constant breach of economic, social and environmental thresholds.”
Vulnerability refers to the capacity of an individual or group to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a natural or man-made hazard. Vulnerability is a result of many pre-existing physical, social, economic and environmental factors.59 Resilience refers to the ability of a community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner (figure 6).60 Risk management is the process of confronting risks, preparing for them and coping with their effects. Its goals are twofold: a) resilience–the ability of people, societies and countries to recover from negative shocks; and b) prosperity–derived from successfully managing positive shocks that create opportunities for development.61 This study is about managing contextual risks–those that are external to humanitarian organizations. It does not cover the management of programmatic or internal risks, which relates to the operation of organizations (e.g. programme failure, misappropriation of aid, reputational damage).62
Yeb Sano, Philippines climate negotiator 58
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