Report: Vulnerable and At Risk Populations in Saudi Arabia

This report provides an overview of the at-risk populations in Saudi Arabia, defining vulnerability according to the World Health Organization and classifying populations based on physical, social, and psychological health criteria. It identifies high-risk groups such as children, pregnant women, and those with chronic illnesses or mental disorders. The report highlights the impact of natural calamities, particularly floods, and their causes, including unplanned urbanization and climate change. It then examines the Saudi Arabian government's initiatives in disaster risk management, including the roles of the Meteorology and Environment department and the Ministry of Civil Defense. The report notes the absence of a comprehensive disaster risk management framework and suggests key areas for government focus, such as risk assessment, urban resilience planning, and regional capacity building for emergency response. References from various researchers are also included to support the findings.

At Risk Population in Saudi Arabia
The World Health Organization characterizes vulnerability as how much a population, an
individual or an association cannot anticipate, adapt, oppose and recover from the effects
of disasters. As per this definition, WHO considers the following category of people
vulnerable: children, pregnant ladies, older people and malnourished individuals.
According to health criteria, population is divided into 3 classifications: physical, social
and mental. High risk mothers and children, constantly sick and impaired individuals and
individuals with AIDS are coming under category of individuals requiring physical
needs.. Chronic medical conditions include diabetes, hypertension, respiratory diseases,
dyslipidemia and coronary diseases.
Vulnerable populations under psychological category are those with acute mental
disorders, for example, major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and also those
with a background of alcohol abuse.
In the social circle, vulnerable populations are those who are homeless, immigrants and
refugees.
At Risk Population: Groups or subgroups of population who are more likely to be
exposed and more sensitive to certain events or substances than the general population
are classified as at-risk population. According to the World Health Organization, some
population groups still have a higher risk of contracting malaria or some other serious
illness than others. The population group which fall under this category are new born
babies , children below 5 years of age , pregnant women and patients contracted with
HIV / AIDS, as well as migrants, mobile populations and travelers who are not properly

immunized. Conceptually, there is virtually no difference between vulnerable and at-risk
populations
Saudi Arabia is affected by a series of natural calamities that include floods caused by
sea and rivers, volcanoes, earthquakes and problems due to water scarcity. During last
thirty years, the country has registered more than ten natural calamities affecting
thousands of people and causing huge financial losses.
Floods are the most common natural calamity. We know that floods in the city of Jeddah
during the year 2009 and 2011 were the worst in recent memory. As per GFDRR
analysis, unplanned urbanization is the root cause for loss and damage. The lack of
proper town planning and improper building norms have led to unsafe construction in
areas categorized as high risk. Early impact of the change in climate includes heat waves
and rise in sea level (Peduzzi, Dao, Herold & Mouton,2009).
Government Initiatives
Saudi Arabia Government has taken a number of steps in disaster risk management
(DRM). The Meteorology and the Environment department is taking initiatives to reduce
the risk of disasters, while the Ministry of Civil Defense is responsible for the planning
and tackling emergency situations.
Saudi Arabia has not yet developed a disaster risk management framework to support
local regulations and also there is no system of regular annual budget allocation for
DRM. In addition, most of the calamities and climate risk, due to the lack of a DRM
strategy, are addressed through the National Strategy for Social Development.

The priorities of the Government should be to perform risk assessment and update
strategies of preparedness, to strengthen planning of land-use and to enforce building
norms. They should have a mechanism to ensure system relating to early warning
systems.
Since 2009, GFDRR has conducted a series of discussion among member countries in the
Middle East to focus the importance of DRM and to have regional coordination to tackle
these perennial problems. The main agenda are the development of a Regional Overview
of Natural Disasters and to organize conferences and workshops; and conducting training
on post-disaster needs assessment. (Nahiduzzaman, Aldosary & Rahman, 2015).
Following the severe flood of Jeddah in 2009 (Rahman, Aldosary, Nahiduzzaman &
Reza, 2016), GFDRR supported the development of a damage and loss assessment. The
Government has to assist in strengthening disaster risk information and carrying on
sustained regional and national dialogue (Haimes, 2009). This initiative complemented
the government’s initiative to develop a proactive rather than responsive approach to
DRM.
To summarize, the Government should focus on the following key areas:
Developing a comprehensive disaster risk assessment;
Strengthening urban resilience planning; and,
Building regional capacity for emergency response planning.
References

Haimes, Y. Y. (2009). On the definition of resilience in systems. Risk Analysis: An
International Journal, 29(4), 498-501.
Nahiduzzaman, K. M., Aldosary, A. S., & Rahman, M. T. (2015). Flood induced
vulnerability in strategic plan making process of Riyadh city. Habitat
International, 49, 375-385.
Peduzzi, P., Dao, H., Herold, C., & Mouton, F. (2009). Assessing global exposure and
vulnerability towards natural hazards: the Disaster Risk Index. Natural Hazards
and Earth System Sciences, 9(4), 1149-1159.
Rahman, M. T., Aldosary, A. S., Nahiduzzaman, K. M., & Reza, I. (2016). Vulnerability
of flash flooding in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Natural Hazards, 84(3), 1807-1830.