Concept of Exposure

Content Standard
• The learners demonstrate understanding
of various elements that may be exposed
to hazards including physical, social,
economic, and environmental.
 Performance Standard
• The learners shall be able to: conduct
hazard hunts of exposed element and
propose corresponding corrective actions
of one’s preparedness.
 Learning Competencies
• The learners are able to:
– enumerate elements exposed to hazards
(DRR11/12 Ic-7)
 Specific Learning Outcomes

• I will be able to:

– explain the definition of exposure based on
the UNISDR Terminology;
– identify elements exposed to hazards and
give examples for each types;
– And differentiate between tangible and
intangible exposed elements.
 Question:
• What would happen if a very strong
typhoon passes through a highly
populated city? (Such as in case of
Typhoon Yolanda when it passed through
the city of Tacloban? Why?)
 Question:
• What if instead, the strong typhoon
passed through an uninhabited island
without people, would this still result in a
disaster? Why? Why not?
 Definition
EXPOSURE SUSCEPTIBILITY
• The UNISDR defines • The term susceptibility is
exposure as people, often used to indicate that
property, systems and an element is exposed to a
other elements present in hazard.
hazard zones that are
thereby subject to
potential loss (UNISDR,
2009).
 3 Essential Components of Exposure

• I- People, property, systems and other elements.

Exposure involves specific elements which we must
be able to identify and give a name to. Elements may
be tangible or intangible.
 3 Essential Components of Exposure
• II. Present in hazard zones.
Elements should be located within an area and
duration of time during which a specific hazard event
or set of hazard events can occur.
• III. That are thereby subject to potential loss.
Elements should have value or importance assigned
to them for it to be subject to potential loss.
 Tangible vs. Intangible
• Tangible elements :
-which can be quantified. If they occupy a fixed
position, tangible elements can be mapped.
- elements at risk are those things that can be
identified, localized, mapped and quantified (For
examples, most of the physical elements)
 Tangible vs. Intangible
• Intangible elements:
-are quantities that cannot be quantified or
mapped as they do not have a particular spatial
dimension.
- for instance, the cultural values, the wellbeing
of communities, psychological conditions, and
sociological behavior
 Classification of Elements: 1. PHYSICAL

• PHYSICAL ELEMENTS: comprises aspects of

geography, location, place, and physical structures
like infrastructures.
– Examples= Developing vs. Developed countries
 Classification of Elements: 2. SOCIAL

• SOCIAL ELEMENTS: Includes the ff:

– Demography= pertains to diversity of people in the
community as to age, gender, health and others.
Example: Young and old are more vulnerable to
extreme heat and cold.
Example: Women and children are more vulnerable.
- Social Groups= includes tourist, ethnic groups.
- Health and well-being (sick vs. healthy)
 Classification of Elements: 3. ECONOMIC

• ECONOMIC ELEMENTS: those that belong to public

and private sectors whose businesses may be
affected by disasters (production loss,
indebtedness).
Classification of Elements: 4. ENVIRONMENTAL

• ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENTS: pertain to natural

resources or misuse of public lands, and
waterways.
– EXAMPLE= Low-lying islands,
Classification of Elements: 4. ENVIRONMENTAL
 CASE 1: ON VULNERABILITY
• EXPERIMENT: Place a pingpong ball and an egg on
the edge of egg tray. Shake the tray in a vigorous
manner so that the pingpong ball and egg edge fall
off and hit the floor. Show the cracked egg and
pingpong ball to the class.
• QUESTION: WHY DID THE EGG CRACKED? WHAT
HAPPENED TO PINGPONG BALL?
 Case 2: On Location
EXPERIMENT: Place a second hardboiled egg in the
center of the egg tray and vigourously shake the
tray while trying to make sure that the egg on the
edge falls off the tray, but the egg in the center
does not.
QUESTION: Why does the egg on the edge fell off the
tray, but the egg in the center did not?
 Case 2: On Location
POINT: Exposure is dependent on location and that it
varies spatialy. Depending on the type and
magnitude of the hazard event, there may be areas
that are “safer” than others .
 Case 3: On Exposure
EXPERIMENT: Move the egg from the center of the
egg tray to the edge. Ask the class what would
happen if the egg on the egg tray is suddenly
grabbed just before the shaking begins. Will the egg
still fall off and break?
 Case 3: On Exposure
POINT: For an element to be considered exposed, it
need to be in the hazard zone at the time that the
hazard event occurs. Some elements are mobile
and are not always present in the hazard zone and
there are not always exposed.
 CASE 4
• EXPERIMENT: Shake the egg tray with nothing on it.
• POINT: No damage or loss can take place if there
are no exposed elements in the damage zone.
 ACTIVITY
Read the section on Guide Book Session 4: Elements at
Risk by Cees van Westen,Nanette Kingma and
Lorena Montoya. Answer the following questions in
their notebooks:
1. How are elements at risk defined in the above
reference?
 ACTIVITY
2. The reference defines systems for classifying
elements at risk. In the Philippines, the one used by
the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centers (ADPC) is
the one most widely used. In this system, elements
at risk are classified into four types namely:
Physical, Societal, Economic and Environmental
Elements with examples of for each type of element
at risk. Can you give at least three (3) other
examples for each type.
 ACTIVITY
3. Based on the reference, what is the difference
between tangible and intangible elements at risk?
4. An element that can be quantified but not mapped
indicates that its position is not fixed with time. How
does this affect the exposure of this element?