Intra-urban differentials in the exposition and vulnerability to landslides: the Human Fatalities in the 2011 Nova Friburgo-RJ disaster

CLAUDIA PAOLA CARDOZO; ANTONIO MIGUEL VIEIRA MONTEIRO; CARLOS MACHADO DE FREITAS

Sao Jose dos Campos

Workshop; I Brazilian Workshop on Assessment of hazards, vulnerability, exposure and disaster risk reduction; 2017

Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alertas de Desastres Naturais (CEMADEN)

This paper provides a preliminary spatial analysis of human fatalities associated to landslides in the municipality of Nova Friburgo in 2011. It also aimed to increase the understanding about the critical factors involved in exposure and vulnerability related to landsides. A total of 412 fatalities were identified (198 women and 214 men), 20% were children between 0 to 9 years old and 19% elderly with or above 60 years old. Fatalities were concentrated in the North of the municipality, especially in the urban area; while landslides were prone to occupy a larger area including both urban and rural zones. The results confirm that not all people exposed to a hazard are vulnerable. Also it points out that loss of human life, although it has a component linked to the landslide occurrence, it depends on the accumulation of disadvantages at individual and household level (i.e., low quality of house constructions and public services, low income, low education, poverty, low social organization, etc.) in an area with different degrees of hazardous. In other words, fatalities related to landslides are linked with the existence of both intra-urban differentials in exposition and vulnerability, which also shape differentials in response capacity of citizens.