It also means to have one's guard down, open to censure or criticism; assailable. Vulnerability refers to a person's state of being liable to succumb, as to persuasion or temptation.
The concept of vulnerability expresses the multidimensionality of disasters by focusing attention on the totality of relationships in a given social situation which constitute a condition that, in combination with environmental forces, produces a disaster (Bankoff et al. 2004: 11).
Many institutions are conducting interdisciplinary research on vulnerability. A forum that brings many of the current researchers on vulnerability together is the Expert Working Group (EWG).1 Researchers are currently working to refine definitions of vulnerability, measurement and assessment methods, and effective communication of research to decision makers (Birkmann et al. 2006).
The importance of the issue is indicated by the establishment of endowed chairs at university departments to examine social vulnerability.
Vulnerability is defined in various ways depending on the nation and service arm concerned, but in general it refers to the near-instantaneous effects of a weapon attack. In some definitions Recoverability (damage control, firefighting, restoration of capability) is included in Vulnerability.
Source: Wikipedia > Vulnerability
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