Assessing Vulnerabilities:

A Panel Discussion

PanelistsPanelistsBurrell Montz, East Carolina University

Allison Yeh, Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization/Planning Commission

Lindsay Cross, Tampa Bay Estuary Program

Defining VulnerabilityDefining Vulnerability• 25+ definitions/concepts in the

literature

• UN/ISDR Definition:“The conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors and processes which increase the susceptibility of a community…”

• Definition of community?

Characteristics of Characteristics of VulnerabilityVulnerability

• Multi-dimensional and differential• Scale dependent

• Dynamic

Flood Inundation Vulnerability

(Vogel and O’Brien, 2004)

Key Spheres of Key Spheres of VulnerabilityVulnerability

Birkmann, 2006

Key ConsiderationsKey Considerations

• Susceptibility• Exposure• Coping Capacity• Adaptive Capacity

Assessing Vulnerability: Assessing Vulnerability: A Geographer’s A Geographer’s

PerspectivePerspective

• Institutional• Socio-Economic• Perceptual

Institutional: Institutional: Coastal Planning Coastal Planning

Monitz, 2011

Physical Vulnerability Physical Vulnerability ScoresScores

1.0-1.49 = extremely low vulnerability2.5-3.29 = moderate vulnerability

4.4-5.0 = extremely high vulnerability

Total Planning ScoresTotal Planning Scores

Socio-Economic: Socio-Economic: Differential Loss PatternsDifferential Loss Patterns

Hardest Hit in Hurricane Hardest Hit in Hurricane CharleyCharley

• Senior Living Developments

• Manufactured homes

• Snowbirds(Montz and Tobin, 2005)

Structure Type & Age Structure Type & Age MatterMatter

Lakewood Village Pine Acres

Block Group

% below povert

y

% over 65 & below

poverty

Median yr

home built

Med. Value mobile homes

% built 1970-1990

Pine Acres

15 12 1976 39,000 62

Lakewood Village

4 14 1981 53,300 46

Port Charlotte

5 60 1988 39,300 65

Harborview

8 60 1987 47,000 53

Hardest HitHardest Hit

Perceptual:Perceptual:Understanding VulnerabilityUnderstanding Vulnerability

• Landfall on August 27, 2011 near the Beaufort, North Carolina

• Weakened from a category 3 to 1

• Track shifted to the west

Final CommentsFinal Comments• Who is vulnerable• Why

o Institutionalo Socio-Economico Perceptual

• How vulnerable• To what• When

Critical Facilities and Hazard Zones

Rhoda and Burton, 2010

ReferencesReferences• Birkmann, J. 2006. Measuring vulnerability to promote disaster-resilient societies:

conceptual frameworks and definitions. In Birkmann, J (ed) Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards: Towards Disaster Resilient Societies. Tokyo: United Nations University Press.

• Monitz, G.I. 2011. Using Vulnerability and Planning Data to Measure Resilience in Coastal North Carolina. Unpublished MA thesis, Department of Geography, East Carolina University

• Montz, B.E. and G.A. Tobin. 2005. Snowbirds and Senior Living Developments: An Analysis of Vulnerability Associated with Hurricane Charley. Quick Response Research Report 177. Boulder, CO: Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center

• Pace, W. 2013. Perceptions of Hurricane Risk Among North Carolina’s Coastal Residents: A Case Study of Hurricane Irene. Unpublished MA thesis, Department of Geography, East Carolina University

• Pace, W. and B.E. Montz. 2014. Category change and risk perception: Hurricane Irene and coastal North Carolina. Journal of Emergency Management 12(6): 467- 477

• Rhoda, R. and T. Burton. 2010. Geo-Mexico: The Geography and Dynamics of Modern Mexico. Vancouver Island, Canada: Sombrero Books.

• Vogel, C. and K. O’Brien. 2004. Vulnerability and global environmental change: rhetoric and reality. Aviso 13: 1-8.

Thank youThank you