*Assessment of social vulnerabilities against natural disasters

Salman Mohagheghi

smohaghe@mines.edu

Natural disasters can potentially cause significant damages to the critical infrastructure of cities, including the power grid and the water network. Long-term lack of access to power and/or water can make living conditions very difficult or even intolerable. Past incidents in the US and abroad have shown that socially vulnerable groups are disproportionately affected by these events, mainly because they do not have access to resources that may be available to more affluent communities. The goals of this project are to: 1. Identify social vulnerability factors that have a major impact on the response of communities to natural disasters. 2. Develop a social vulnerability index that can predict communities that may struggle in the aftermath of a natural disaster. 3. Apply the model to three (3) past natural disasters and validate the outcome based on available historical. data. Successful completion of this project can provide an insight into the vulnerabilities of communities against natural disasters and offer a framework for targeted investments to ensure resilience. Climate change has led to an increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters, which further signifies the importance of this problem.

Grand Challenge: Restore and improve urban infrastructure

D.S.K. Thomas, B.D. Phillips, W.E. Lovekamp and A. Fothergill, Social Vulnerability to Disasters, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2nd Ed., 2013. S.L. Cutter, B.J. Boruff and W.L. Shirley, “Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards,” Social Science Quarterly, vol. 84, no. 2, Jun. 2003, pp. 242–261.

Me and my PhD students