A Method for Measuring Coupled Individual and Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards

Tuccillo, Joseph V.; Spielman, Seth E.

doi:10.1080/24694452.2021.1989283

A Method for Measuring Coupled Individual and Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards

Journal Article · Mon Jan 24 00:00:00 EST 2022 · Annals of the American Association of Geographers

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2021.1989283· OSTI ID:1844908

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Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

Although models of social vulnerability to environmental hazards are commonly developed to support policy interventions in emergencies and disasters, their utility is hindered by a lack of contextual information on individuals exposed to and affected by hazards. We develop a novel approach to model social vulnerability that couples individuals and their varying forms of protective capacity with the social fabric of the communities in which they reside. The backbone of our model is the Public-Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), a product of the U.S. Census Bureau that preserves a representative sample of completed responses to the American Community Survey (ACS). The PUMS enables us to understand the full range of individual protective capacities against a hazard in an exposed area, which we term individual vulnerability profiles (IVPs). In this case, we examine IVPs in the Coney Island-Brighton Beach section of New York City, which suffered severe impacts during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. To manage the large number of unique IVPs in Coney Island-Brighton Beach, we perform a segmentation analysis to generalize them into thematic cohort vulnerability profiles (CVPs) representing a typology of vulnerable people in Coney Island-Brighton Beach during Sandy. From synthetic populations of CVPs, we then estimate how individuals in varying housing types were coexposed to Sandy at the census tract level by classifying these areas into community social vulnerability profiles (SVPs). Our results provide a topology of social vulnerability that simultaneously links individual, community, and population-wide concerns, enabling a more holistic understanding of resources and interventions beneficial to human security during events like Sandy than is attainable with area-level metrics.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1844908

Journal Information:: Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Journal Name: Annals of the American Association of Geographers Journal Issue: 0 Vol. 0; ISSN 2469-4452

Publisher:: Taylor & FrancisCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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References (58)

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