ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concept of vulnerability through the lens of disasters. Explanations of ‘natural’ disasters have evolved from attribution to Acts of God or Mother Nature, through hazard control and management, to disaster risk reduction and most recently, disaster risk creation. As explanations have evolved, so too has the attribution of responsibility. Tracking the changes in responsibility has led to steadily deeper explanations. This has brought forth a search for root causes. As the idea of disaster risk creation becomes widely recognised and adopted it will offer a new perspective on the unfolding future of what vulnerability will mean and will become in the years and decades ahead. As disaster risks are being understood as global rather than local, the term ‘precarity’ is being added to vulnerability.
