World Disasters Report 2010 - International Federation of Red Cross ...

feedback have all been used to help change
behaviour.
Activities focus primarily on:
�� digging paths to evacuate stagnant water
�� regular maintenance of drainage channels
�� disinfecting stagnant water, in association
with the national hygiene department
�� placing sandbags to help inhabitants get
about within the neighbourhood itself.
The social distribution of climate change risk
The authorities use local labour for some drainage
works and women’s groups are involved
in awareness-raising activities to combat diarrhoea
and measures to be taken to prevent malaria
and other diseases. NGOs work closely
with the state’s decentralized structures (health
and sanitation departments, fire brigade, etc.)
to raise awareness and change the population’s
behaviour.��
Social factors account for a large proportion of the variability in vulnerability to climate
change impacts. Firstly, poverty and marginality are key contributors to vulnerability.
Exposure to climate risk is particularly evident for households and communities
living in sites that are exposed to storm surges, flooding and landslides and which lack
the resources and options to modify these effectively. Low-income urban residents are
particularly vulnerable to climate change for a variety of reasons, including:
�� greater exposure to hazards (e.g., through living in makeshift housing on unsafe
sites)
�� lack of hazard-reducing infrastructure (e.g., roads allowing emergency vehicle
access)
�� less adaptive capacity (e.g., inability to move to less dangerous sites or access sav-
ings or insurance)
�� less state provision of assistance
�� less legal and financial protection.
Secondly, climate change is expected to exacerbate pre-existing gender dimensions
of vulnerability. On top of the well-documented and disproportionate impact of
disasters on women’s morbidity and mortality, climate change will impact women’s
livelihoods by reducing economic opportunities and will increase the burden of
reproductive labour, for example, through a growing burden of child disease (see
Table 6.2).
Thirdly, age greatly shapes vulnerability to the consequences of climate change. Children
have higher susceptibility to diseases caused by poor sanitation or spread by vectors.
Climate change may reduce availability of potable water, both through absolute
scarcity and through increased spread of bacterial diseases, and vectors such as mosquitoes
may expand their range due to rising temperatures. In addition, very young children
have less capacity to cope with high temperatures and less ability or knowledge to
respond rapidly to disaster events, and can suffer long-term damage to their cognitive
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