In understanding and trying to reduce the risk from disasters,
connections are often articulated amongst poverty,
vulnerability, risk, and disasters. These are welcome steps, but
the approach taken in top-down international documents is rarely
to articulate explicitly that vulnerability accrues from a wide
variety of dynamic and long-term processes. Neglecting these
processes—and failing to explore their links with poverty, risk,
and disasters—tends to encourage disaster risk creation. This
paper identifies seven examples of on-the-ground realities of
long-term vulnerability within two clusters: 1 Environmental
degradation. 4 Self-seeking public expenditure. 5 Denial of
access to resources. 7 Siphoning of public money. Examples are
presented as vignettes, many contemporary and many rooted in
historical contexts, to demonstrate the extent to which
“vulnerability drivers” emanate from greed, the misuse of
political and commercial power, mismanagement and incompetence
amongst other behaviours. Moving forward to