ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a study which aims to contextualise social vulnerability to pandemic situations in the wake of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Pandemics, as evidenced by the recent COVID-19 outbreak, lead to significant and long-lasting disruptive and traumatic consequences of a different nature, dynamic, and severity, compared to those of non-biological hazards. The scientific use of the term “vulnerability” draws its roots from geography and natural hazards literature, but it is also used in different fields, referring to diverse settings and situations. Social vulnerability, among other types of vulnerability, is relatively more challenging to observe, define, and quantify. Individual characteristics refer to the personal attributes that may have a determinate role in an individual's susceptibility and capacity to tolerate the impacts of pandemics in general, and COVID-19 in particular. Gender-based vulnerabilities to environmental hazards are extensively discussed in the existing literature.
