A study on urban economic vulnerability evaluation system

Abstract

Chinese cities face high and rapidly increasing exposure to disasters. Reducing disaster vulnerability is a direct and effective countermeasure for disaster management and risk reduction, which requires first and foremost objective assessment of the vulnerabilities of societies and economies. Assessment of economic vulnerability is a significant step in risk evaluation, a prerequisite for effective disaster prevention planning and an important base for emergency management. This paper develops a model for assessing economic vulnerability, which takes into account of the size of enterprises, the vulnerability and importance of various industrial sectors and economic density. Based on the model, this paper develops an urban economic vulnerability evaluation system and applies it to Haidian District in Beijing, the results help identify where in its 647 blocks are highly and very highly vulnerable in terms of economies, and it provides useful and practical information for pre-disaster prevention planning, disaster preparedness and emergency management. The economic vulnerability assessment model and the system developed in this study make it possible for the government to quickly evaluate the general economic vulnerability and identify the specific vulnerable areas, making contribution to disaster management information system and decision support system.