Social Vulnerability to Natural and Technological Hazards: The Relevance of Scale

Abstract

In this paper it is proposed a new version of social vulnerability indexes to natural and technological hazards that takes into account, beyond the standard analysis of exposure or biophysical vulnerability, social resilience and infrastructural support capabilities. It also intends to be a contribution to the revision of established paradigms of disaster analysis, emphasizing the importance of social cartography about vulnerable communities and citizens, social resilience and infrastructural support capabilities. It contributes also to effective prevention and public security policies that take into account territorial cohesion and social inequalities.We present an evaluation of social vulnerability for all municipalities in Portugal, taking the national framework as reference, and also an evaluation of social vulnerability at the town level within a regional framework. The regional evaluation required a selection of seven municipalities in the Centre region of Portugal, according to their biophysical and socio-economics characteristics to represent an adequate sample for a new scale approach.