Comparative indicators of hazards vulnerability in urban areas

University South Carolina Research Foundation, Columbia SC

Investigators

Abstract

This project examines the vulnerability of 120 of the nation's largest cities to natural hazard events. The research will identify and integrate within a geographical information system, those specific biophysical, social, and built environment variables that either increase or decrease vulnerability in cities. Three questions drive this research: 1) What underlying factors produce human systems (or social) vulnerability and what metrics are most appropriate for measuring it? 2) Can we develop a consistent and robust comparative measure that allows us to compare the overall vulnerability of one metropolitan area to another using hazard, social, and built environment indicators? and 3) Does the relative importance of the three key indicators (hazard, social, and built environment) change over time and space? The project will utilize existing hazard and demographic databases as well as those created by the investigator through prior NSF-funded research. For each metropolitan area we will develop a series of composite indexes that allow us to paint a picture of the vulnerability of the natural, social, and built environment in each city. The availability of historic data enables us to monitor changes in vulnerability during the past 40 years (1960-2000). By using a geographical information system, we will be able to map not only the geographic differences in vulnerability, but also the historic changes as well. In this way, we should be able to determine which urban areas are the most vulnerable and why.