Mapping Social Vulnerability to Multi-Hazard Scenarios: A GIS-Based Approach at the Census Tract Level

Abstract

Floods and landslides cause continuous damage to ecosystems, infrastructures, and populations. Particularly, the occurrence and the existence of different natural hazards in the same territory highlight the need to improve risk mitigation strategies for local authorities and community resilience solutions for inhabitants. Analyzing and mapping social vulnerability provides information about the main features of a specific community to deal with natural events. Specifically, the interaction between multi-hazards and the socio-economic environment suggests multidisciplinary assessments that merge the physical and the socio-economic features of the affected territories, providing a useful approach to support multi-risk reduction planning. In this context, the article focuses on integrating landslide and flood hazard scenarios with social vulnerability in the Basilicata Region (southern Italy) at the census tract level. Thirteen municipalities were chosen as multi-hazard hot spots, while open-source platforms were selected for hazard and social vulnerability data collection and analyses. A geographic information system (GIS)-based approach was applied to combine different hazard scenarios with social vulnerability distribution among 1331 census tracts to detect the most vulnerable sub-municipality areas that need special attention in multi-risk reduction strategies. The results are presented in the form of maps, which provide a relevant suitable tool in local emergency planning.