Abstract
When discussing the disaster risk definition, relationships between elements of the nature and society are meant. Based on risk concepts there are the following elements (factors) distinguished: natural hazards, the exposure, vulnerability, resilience, resistance, coping and adaptive capacity. Characterisation of selected risk elements and of the relationships between them aims to describe the role of these risk elements in the natural disaster.
Investigations performed in the recent decades, beside the interest in natural hazards, focus on the exposure, vulnerability, and resilience. The most important aspect of disaster risk reduction is an identification of hotspots and relationships between factors of the risk towards improved protection from natural hazards.
This article proposes the point bonitation method to describe relationships differentiation between the exposure and resilience in risk areas, and is commonly used e.g.: for an evaluation of natural environment, landscape, and tourist attractiveness level, as well as to identify threat in the landscape, and in the environmental management and spatial planning. The proposed method qualifies and quantifies the disaster factors in order to compare their role in different disaster areas. This article focuses on two kinds of disaster factors: (i) anthropogenic elements of exposure generating damages in urban areas, (ii) and natural factors minimizing damages and therefore contributing to the resilience. Depending on the intensity of the anthropogenic and natural feature, their are assigned with weight. Sensitive infrastructure in the coast and the density of population, as well as mitigating elements of the disaster located in the animate and inanimate nature were analyzed. The analysis are based on geographical data of Sri Lanka in the areas affected by tsunami.
The applied method indicates disaster factors requiring modification in risk management and adaptation to natural hazard. Investigation of relationships between the exposure and resilience indicate the direction of investments in disaster risk protection and spatial management performed by local and regional authorities and administration.