From Vulnerability to Adaptation to Climate Change: Food for Thoughts in Social Sciences - Vulnerability of Coastal Ecosystems and Adaptation - page 245

will tend to be relatively isolated when dealing with the hazard.
Second, the ability to counteract the domino effects characterizing the
disaster and to limit the spatial and temporal scales of these effects
will tend to be smaller for the area in question. So, although social
cohesion and economic diversification for instance can limit the level
of vulnerability, other elements which characterize mechanisms of
response to crises and the prevention of natural hazards also play a
part. These are on the one hand legal and regulatory frameworks
applicable over the whole territory and, on the other hand, tools and
bodies which help in their successful implementation. These elements
can be traditional or take more modern forms.
Two main questions arise. First, do political and institutional
bodies (traditional or modern) complement each other in terms of
managing and preventing natural hazards over the scale of the whole
territory? In other words, are all the domains affected by the risk, and
indirectly, all the factors affecting the level of vulnerability,
represented? The answer to this question leads to the second question:
are these bodies well coordinated? Do they complement each other
and, beyond this, are they likely to respond together to the global
factors of risk? These questions are particularly relevant in the case of
continuous risks, as anticipation mechanisms - and hence long-term
regulation - require coherence in political and institutional measures
so as to build well-structured responses likely to address as soon as
possible the domino effects inherent to any hazard.
6.3.2.6. The living conditions of the population
The level of development contributes, to the same extent as other
factors, to creating/conserving a certain degree of leeway. In this case,
we consider living conditions as a reflection of the level of
development. Several elements need to be taken into account,
including demography, habitat, education, employment status,
transport system, energy and health.
The population growth rate, the population densities varying from
one place to another and the particular structure of the age pyramid are
all factors that influence vulnerability. A strong population rise for
instance requires considerable investment in terms of spatial planning