In between root causes and disasters are the cascading underlying factors that increase vulnerability and exposure. These factors can cause more severe impacts when a hazard or extreme event occurs. We call these underlying factors the drivers of disaster risk.
Drivers
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Increasing temperatures in the ocean or atmosphere, for example from climate change.
Infrastructure vulnerable to extreme events, often due to lack of investment, maintenance, inadequate planning or poor construction.
A prolonged shortage of water supply, often due to extended periods of insufficient rainfall.
Intentional mass removal of trees, often for resource extraction or changing land use.
An absent or poorly communicated warning of a hazard’s impending arrival.
An absence or ineffective enforcement of regulations to increase resilience.
Landscape change via increasing growth and expansion of cities and neighbourhoods.
Planned and controlled criminal activities that perpetuate a hazard or vulnerability.
Any product or substance in a concentration harmful for human or environmental health.
Human activities altering the natural function or flow of freshwater bodies including rivers, lakes, wetlands and groundwater reservoirs.