Vulnerability
We explain what vulnerability is and the types of vulnerability that exist. In addition, how to counteract vulnerabilities.
What is vulnerability?
Vulnerability is a quality that someone or something possesses in order to be injured. When a person or an object is vulnerable, it means that they can become injured or receive a physical or emotional injury.
This word can be applied according to its ability to prevent, resist or overcome a specific impact . It is often said that these people are at risk.
See also: Emergency.
Vulnerability Types
Below is the use of the term "vulnerable" in different fields:
In society: Children, women and the elderly are usually considered as individuals in situations of vulnerability. This quality is recognized because of the physical differences they have against men. That is to say, it is understood that men have a greater resistance to any type of risk and that they can withstand more It is that others in a given situation and, in turn, could help those who need it.
On the other hand, social and cultural conditions also determine vulnerability. A person who is in a street situation is more vulnerable to illness or accidents than a person who owns decent housing. As well as, a person who has not had a basic education will find himself with fewer job options than the others.
In computer science: Vulnerability is usually mentioned when a deficiency in programming occurs. This event is also called a bug ("bug" in English), an error or a bug in a particular computer program that ends in an unwanted result.
Debuggers are programs that have the purpose of detecting and eliminating the programming errors of a software or several software systems.
In biology: A species that is highly likely to become an endangered species is considered a vulnerable species. For a species to be defined in this way, a significant reduction, fragmentation or decrease in its population must be detected naturally.
In environmental sciences : A vulnerable area will be one that has suffered a natural disaster, that is, that place that has been exposed to a natural phenomenon of great magnitude capable of destroying it. A city devastated after a tsunami of great magnitude is a clear example of what it means to declare an area as vulnerable.
In turn, it can refer to an area that is exposed, that is to say that it has the risk, of suffering a natural disaster. In addition, this classification will also depend on capital, the capacity to recover and the infrastructure that the government of each country possesses.
How to counteract vulnerabilities?
To counteract a vulnerability , the effects of the hazard in question should be reduced as much as possible . This can be done through an alert, the preparation of both a person and a country, the prediction of the problem and the mitigation. At the same time, you should try to strengthen the capacities or resources that they have in order to face those dangers.
Finally, in the political sphere, hidden causes or those that are below vulnerability must be treated . Some of these causes may be poverty, poor government management and inequality, among many others.
