SGER: Social Vulnerability Mapping and GIS in Tsunami Impact Analysis

Texas A&M Research Foundation, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

Effective disaster management and planning depend upon sound hazard vulnerability assessment (Schwab et al. 1998; Perry and Lindell, 2003; Burby et al., 1998). Recent research suggests a need to integrate a broader notion of vulnerability that extends beyond vulnerabilities arising from the built environment to also include social vulnerabilities (Cutter, Boruff & Shirley, 2003; Prater and Wu, 2002). In the last decade, the use of geographical information systems (GIS) technology has become an indispensable tool for linking various levels of hazard assessment and disaster impacts into an integrated format that can be effectively used by state and local emergency management through all phases of the emergency management process including hazard/vulnerability analysis, preparedness for emergency response and recovery, emergency response, disaster recovery, and hazard mitigation (Cutter, 2001). The Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center and the Spatial Sciences Laboratory at Texas A&M University (TAMU) will extend their recent work in hazard mapping that links hazard exposure (and disaster impact) with a more comprehensive notion of vulnerability. A community vulnerability assessment that involves hazard exposure, physical/structural vulnerability and social vulnerability currently being developed and tested for the Mid-America Earthquake (MAE) Center in Memphis Tennessee will be extended to a developing country, India. The extension of these mapping tools to a developing country will promote a better understanding of disaster impacts and also enhance our understanding of the recovery process. This project will train three graduate students in the use of GIS for social vulnerability modeling and in the use of survey techniques in the social sciences. One of these students is female, and is an active participant in the Gender and Disasters Network. This project will afford an opportunity to examine issues of variability in disaster impacts by gender, as well as coping strategies used most successfully by women in a traditionally patriarchal society. By establishing working relationships with universities and NGOs in India, the US team will enhance their infrastructure of networks and partnerships for research and education. A major contribution of this research to society will be to broaden our understanding of what social science findings are applicable across nations and cultures. With such information available to inform policy, funds for disaster aid and foreign aid could be better targeted to the sectors of society most likely to benefit. Research findings will be disseminated through a broad array of disciplinary journals and other media outlets in both the U.S. and India. The data from this project will be made available through the NEES data repository at San Diego Supercomputing Center. This research is supported jointly by the Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) priority area, the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE), and the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) Program.