Vulnerability to Recurring Famine in Northern Kenya: An Application of the Pressure and Release Model
[1]
Chepkemoi Daisy, Sociology Department, Research Center for Environment and Society, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
[2]
Gu Jintu, Sociology Department, Research Center for Environment and Society, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
Kenya faces several types of environmental hazards yearly. These hazards ranging from floods to drought affect different regions in different magnitudes and in different times. Despite this high exposure and despite the many studies done on the different impacts of the hazards, a particular model is yet to be applied on the vulnerabilities of the people to disaster as a result of the aforementioned hazard events. People experience hazards events differently and this determines whether the event turns into a disaster or not. This outcome of a hazard is highly dependent on the complex interactions between the ecological or physical and social systems. The social systems focuses on access to political power, decision-making, and resources, types of livelihoods, environmental conditions, and state of disaster risk reduction. These major factors determine the vulnerability of a people to disasters. The aim of this study was to adapt the recurring drought hazard in Kenya to a conceptual framework, the Pressure and Release (PAR) Model. To analyse how vulnerabilities with root causes, dynamic pressures and unsafe conditions contribute to transform the hazard to a disaster. Recurring drought exposure on a vulnerable group of people increases the magnitude of the disaster every season of its happening. Social services and relief help the people affected to recover but there is a need to engage more sustainable measures to curb the disaster through adequate disaster preparedness programmes and policies.
Drought, Famine, Disaster, Pressure and Release Model, Risk, Vulnerability, Kenya
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