Relationship between social vulnerability and community resilience: A geospatial study in the context of natural disasters

Abstract

Social vulnerability and resilience are critical factors for disaster risk management. Despite the significant progress in research on both concepts, only some studies have explored the empirical relationship between them. The relationship between community resilience and social vulnerability to natural disasters in Chile was studied using empirical and geospatial analysis. We used the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) and the Community Resilience Index (BRIC), previously calculated nationally for Chile. Based on these indicators, we constructed a matrix to classify the 3100 districts into high, medium, and low levels of vulnerability and resilience. In addition, we performed a spatial autocorrelation analysis using the Global Moran Index. Our results indicate that: Vulnerability and resilience are related concepts, but are not opposite within a continuum, (II) Rather than being randomly distributed, districts with higher (or lower) capacities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a disaster tend to cluster geographically; (III) the districts with the highest levels of resilience and lowest levels of vulnerability were located in the main cities of the country. We expect that a better understanding of the relationship between vulnerability and resilience in each territory will help institutions in charge of disaster management to identify communities most susceptible to damage and least capable of recovering from a disaster. Consequently, it will facilitate the design and implementation of policies, programs, and plans best adapted to the needs of each community.