Research Lead The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill coastalhazardscenter.org

Planning for the Socially Vulnerable in Disaster Management

Bennetta Robinson; DHS DIEM Intern (Summer 2011); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Philip Berke, PhD; Principal Investigator; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Research Lead The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill coastalhazardscenter.org

Research Questions• To what extent do hazard plans account for

socially vulnerable populations?

• To what extent do social vulnerability indices relate to the quality of the plans?

Research Lead The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill coastalhazardscenter.org

Methods for Plan Quality and SoVI Assessment• A plan quality score was tabulated according to the presence

of plan quality principles and associated plan quality indicators

• Data collected through the United States Census Bureau (2000) was used to derive a social vulnerability index based on the Susan Cutter SoVI model.

• For each county, a PQ and a SoVI index score were calculated.

Research Lead The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill coastalhazardscenter.org

SoVI Model

Research Lead The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill coastalhazardscenter.org

Findings• Findings from the sample study area highlight

that hazard mitigation plan do not account for inclusion of marginalized populations.

• The Pearson product-moment correlation (r) between SoVI scores and plan quality scores was -0.20. implying a weak relationship between the two variables.

Research Lead The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill coastalhazardscenter.org

Implications• FEMA should should develop specific guidelines on how

to create direction-setting and action-oriented components of hazard mitigation plans that account for marginalized populations.

• Because the relationship between PQ and SoVI is weak, future research should examine other factors that might influence how well plans account for marginalized populations.