Social vulnerability in the context of bushfire risk at the urban-bush interface in Sydney: A case study of the Blue Mountains and Ku-ring-gai local council areas

Natural Hazards

Volumn 64, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 1873-1898

  Solangaarachchi, Daminda ^a   Griffin, Amy L ^a   Doherty, Michael D ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES   (Australia)

^b CSIRO   (Australia)

Author keywords

Bushfire; Principle component analysis; Social vulnerability; SoVI; Urban bush interface

Indexed keywords

BUSHLAND; CATASTROPHIC EVENT; DISASTER MANAGEMENT; FIRE; HAZARD ASSESSMENT; NATURAL HAZARD; PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS; RISK ASSESSMENT; URBAN AREA; VULNERABILITY;

AUSTRALIA; BLUE MOUNTAINS [NEW SOUTH WALES]; NEW SOUTH WALES; SYDNEY [NEW SOUTH WALES];

EID: 84867229934     PISSN: 0921030X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11069-012-0334-y     Document Type: Article

References (85)

1. Adger WN, Brooks N, Bentham G, Agnew M, Eriksen S (2004) New indicators of vulnerability and adaptive capacity. Technical Report 7. Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Norwich.
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009) Regional population growth, Australia, 2007-08 Australian Bureau of Statistics. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/3218.0~2007-08~Main+Features~New+South+Wales?OpenDocument#PARALINK3. Accessed 26 July 2011.
3. Baum S, Horton S, Choy D (2008) Local urban communities and extreme weather events: mapping social vulnerability to flood. Australas J Reg Stud 14(3): 251-273.
4. Birkmann J (2006) Measuring vulnerability to promote disaster-resilient societies: conceptual frameworks and definitions. In: Birkmann J (ed) Measuring vulnerability to natural hazards: towards disaster resilient societies. United Nations University Press, Tokyo, pp 9-54.
5. Blaikie P, Wisner B, Cannon T, Davis I (1994) At risk: natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters. Routledge, London.
6. Blue Mountains Bush Fire Coordinating Committee (2008) Bushfire risk management plan. Blue Mountains City Council, Katoomba.
7. Blue Mountains City Council (2006) Community Atlas: index of relative socio-economic disadvantage, the Blue Mountains City 2006. http://atlas.id.com.au/DefaultMap.aspx?id=212&pg=2010&c=3080&t=10013. Accessed 14 May 2012.
8. Bowen RE, Riley C (2003) Socio-economic indicators and integrated coastal management. Ocean Coast Manag 46(3-4): 299-312.
9. Brunckhorst D, Reeve I, Morley P, Coleman M, Barclay E, McNeill J, Stayner R, Glencross-Grant R, Thompson J, Thompson L (2011) Hunter & Central Coasts New South Wales-vulnerability to climate change impacts. Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Australia.
10. Buckle P (1998) Re-defining community and vulnerability in the context of emergency management. Aust J Emerg Manag 13(4): 21-26.
11. Burton D, Laurie E (2009) Blue Mountains City Council climate change risk assessment. Climate Risk Pty Limited (Australia), Sydney.
12. Buxton M, Haynes R, Mercer D, Butt A (2011) Vulnerability to bushfire risk at Melbourne's urban fringe: the failure of regulatory land use planning. Geogr Res 49(1): 1-12.
13. Chakraborty J, Tobin GA, Montz BE (2005) Population evacuation: assessing spatial variability in geophysical risk and social vulnerability to natural hazards. Nat Hazards Rev 6(1): 23-33.
14. Chen K (2005) Counting bushfire-prone addresses in the Greater Sydney region. In: Proceedings of the Symposium on Planning for Natural Hazards-How Can We Mitigate the Impacts? University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2-5 February 2005, pp 10.
15. Chen K, Blong R, Jacobson C (2003) Towards an integrated approach to natural hazards risk assessment using GIS: with reference to bushfires. Environ Manage 31(4): 546-560.
16. City of Blue Mountains (2009) State of city report-summary findings Blue Mountains City Council. www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au. Accessed 20 July 2011.
17. Clark G, Moser S, Ratick S, Dow K, Meyer W, Emani S, Jin W, Kasperson J, Kasperson R, Schwarz H (1998) Assessing the vulnerability of coastal communities to extreme storms: the case of Revere, MA, USA. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 3(1): 59-82.
18. Collins TW (2005) Households, forests, and fire hazard vulnerability in the American West: a case study of a California community. Glob Environ Change Part B Environ Hazards 6(1): 23-37.
19. Cottrell A (2005) Communities and bushfire hazard in Australia: more questions than answers. Glob Environ Change Part B Environ Hazards 6(2): 109-114.
20. Cox JR, Rosenzweig C, Solecki WD, Goldberg R, Kinney PL (2007) Social vulnerability to climate change: a neighbourhood analysis of the northeast U. S. megaregion. Union of Concerned Scientists. http://www.northeastclimateimpacts.org/pdf/tech/cox_et_al.pdf. Accessed 20 July 2011.
21. Cutter SL (1996) Vulnerability to environmental hazards. Prog Hum Geogr 20(4): 529-539.
22. Cutter SL, Finch C (2008) Temporal and spatial changes in social vulnerability to natural hazards. Proc Nat Acad Sci 105(7): 2301-2306.
23. Cutter SL, Mitchell JT, Scott MS (1997) Handbook for conducting a GIS-based hazards assessment at the county level. University of South Carolina, Columbia.
24. Cutter SL, Mitchell JT, Scott MS (2000) Revealing the vulnerability of people and places: a case study of Georgetown County, South Carolina. Ann As Am Geogr 90(4): 713-737.
25. Cutter SL, Boruff BJ, Shirley WL (2003) Social vulnerability to environmental hazards. Soc Sci Quart 84(2): 242-261.
26. Cutter SL, Barnes L, Berry M, Burton C, Evans E, Tate E, Webb J (2008) A place-based model for understanding community resilience to natural disasters. Glob Environ Change 18(4): 598-606.
27. Cutter SL, Emrich CT, Webb JJ, Morath D (2009) Social vulnerability to climate variability hazards: a review of the literature: Final report to Oxfam America. Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
28. Davidson R (1997) An urban earthquake disaster risk index. John A Blume Earthquake Engineering Center Report, vol 121. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
29. Deodhar V (2004) Does the housing market value heritage?: Some empirical evidence. Department of Economics, Macquarie University, North Ryde.
30. Dixon D (2005) Needs of an actual community post disaster-Hornsby Ku-ring-gai. Aust J Emerg Manage 20(3): 33-38.
31. Dolan A, Walker I (2006) Understanding vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change related risks. J Coast Res SI 39: 1316-1323.
32. Douglas J (2007) Physical vulnerability modelling in natural hazard risk assessment. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 7: 283-288.
33. Dwyer A, Zoppou C, Nielsen O, Day S, Roberts S (2004) Quantifying Social Vulnerability: A methodology for identifying those at risk to natural hazards. Geoscience Australia Record, vol 2004/014. Geoscience Australia, Canberra.
34. Eakin H, Luers AL (2006) Assessing the vulnerability of social-environmental systems. Annu Rev Environ Resour 31: 365-394.
35. Fekete A (2009) Validation of a social vulnerability index in context to river-floods in Germany. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 9(2): 393-403.
36. Fekete A, Damm M, Birkmann J (2010) Scales as a challenge for vulnerability assessment. Nat Hazards 55(3): 729-747.
37. Field AP (2009) Discovering statistics using SPSS, 3rd edn. Sage, London.
38. Finch C, Emrich CT, Cutter SL (2010) Disaster disparities and differential recovery in New Orleans. Popul Environ 31(4): 179-202.
39. Flanagan BE, Gregory EW, Hallisey EJ, Heitgerd JL, Lewis B (2011) A social vulnerability index for disaster management. J Homel Secur Emerg Manag 8(1): Article 3.
40. Füssel HM (2007) Vulnerability: a generally applicable conceptual framework for climate change research. Glob Environ Change 17(2): 155-167.
41. Goudie D (2008) Improving delivery of safety-oriented weather information for non-english speaking households (NESH). Developing community weather-safe structures and behaviour. Research series report 2. Centre for Disaster Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, p 138.
42. Granger K (2003) Quantifying storm tide risk in Cairns. Nat Hazards 30(2): 165-185.
43. Granger K, Hayne M (2001) Natural hazards and risk they pose to South East Queensland. Australian Geological Survey Organisation.
44. Haki Z, Akyurek Z, Duzgun S. (2004) Assessment of social vulnerability using geographic information systems: Pendik, Istanbul case study. Paper presented at the 7th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science, Parallel Session 4. 3-Environmental/Social Modelling, Heraklion, Greece.
45. Handmer J, O'Neil S, Killalea D (2010) Review of fatalities in the February 7, 2009, bushfires: Report Prepared for the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission April 2010. Bushfire CRC, Centre for Risk and Community Safety, RMIT University, Melbourne.
46. Hennessy K, Lucas C, Nicholls N, Bathols J, Suppiah R, Ricketts J (2005) Climate change impacts on fire-weather in south-east Australia. Climate Impacts Group, CSIRO Atmospheric Research and the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, Aspendale. Melbourne.
47. Hewitt K (1997) Regions of risk: a geographical introduction to disasters. Longman, London.
48. Holand IS, Rød J, Lujala P (2009) A social vulnerability index for Norway: a viable approach in analyses of social consequences of climate change?. In: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science: Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions, Copenhagen, 10-12 March 2009. IOP Publishing Ltd. doi: 10. 1088/1755-1307/6/57/572028.
49. Holand IS, Lujala P, Rød JK (2011) Social vulnerability assessment for Norway: a quantitative approach. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift-Norweg J Geogr 65(1): 1-17.
50. Hornsby/Ku-ring-gai Bushfire Management Committee (2008) Bushfire risk management plan. http://www.hkbfmc.org.au/files/BFRMP_Final_Lowres_04032010.pdf. Accessed 20 July 2011.
51. Kienberger S, Lang S, Zeil P (2009) Spatial vulnerability units-Expert-based spatial modelling of socio-economic vulnerability in the Salzach catchment, Austria. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 9: 767-778.
52. King D (2001) Uses and limitations of socioeconomic indicators of community vulnerability to natural hazards: data and disasters in Northern Australia. Nat Hazards 24(2): 147-156.
53. King D, MacGregor C (2000) Using social indicators to measure community vulnerability to natural hazards. Aust J Emerg Manage 15(3): 52-57.
54. Kuhlicke C, Scolobig A, Tapsell S, Steinfuhrer A, De Marchi B (2011) Contextualizing social vulnerability: findings from case studies across Europe. Nat Hazards 58(2): 789-810.
55. Ku-ring-gai Council (2005) Ku-ring-gai community environmental research report. Ku-ring-gai Council.
56. Ku-ring-gai Council (2006) Biodiversity strategy. Ku-ring-gai Council, Gordon.
57. Lein J, Stump N (2009) Assessing wildfire potential within the wildland-urban interface: a southeastern Ohio example. Appl Geogr 29(1): 21-34.
58. Lowe T, Haynes K, Byrne G (2009) Resilience at the urban interface: the community fire unit approach. In: Handmer J, Haynes K (eds) Community bushfire safety. CSIRO, Canberra, pp 21-34.
59. Meehl GA, Stocker TF, Collins WD, Friedlingstein P, Gaye AT, Gregory JM, Kitoh A, Knutti R, Murphy JM, Noda A, Raper SCB, Watterson IG, Weaver AJ, Zhao ZC (2007) Global climate projections. Climate Change 2007: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
60. Mendes J (2009) Social vulnerability indexes as planning tools: beyond the preparedness paradigm. J Risk Res 12(1): 43-58.
61. Myers C, Slack T, Singelmann J (2008) Social vulnerability and migration in the wake of disaster: the case of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Popul Environ 29(6): 271-291.
62. Nardo M, Saisana M, Saltelli A, Tarantola S, Hoffman A, Giovannini E (2005) Handbook on constructing composite indicators: methodology and user guide. OECD, Paris.
63. O'Keefe P, Westgate K, Wisner B (1976) Taking the naturalness out of natural disasters. Nature 260: 566-567.
64. Pink B (2006) Socio-economic indexes for areas (SEIFA): technical paper. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.
65. Poudyal NC, Johnson-Gaither C, Goodrick S, Bowker J, Gan J (2012) Locating spatial variation in the association between wildland fire risk and social vulnerability across six southern states. Environ Manage 9(3): 623-635.
66. Preston B, Brooke C, Measham T, Smith T, Gorddard R (2009) Igniting change in local government: lessons learned from a bushfire vulnerability assessment. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 14(3): 251-283.
67. Preston BL, Yuen EJ, Westaway RM (2011) Putting vulnerability to climate change on the map: a review of approaches, benefits, and risks. Sustain Sci 6(2): 177-202.
68. Rygel L, O'Sullivan D, Yarnal B (2006) A method for constructing a social vulnerability index: an application to hurricane storm surges in a developed country. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 11(3): 741-764.
69. Saisana M, Saltelli A, Tarantola S (2005) Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis techniques as tools for the quality assessment of composite indicators. J R Stat Soc Ser A (Stat Soc) 168(2): 307-323.
70. Saltelli A (2007) Composite indicators between analysis and advocacy. Soc Indic Res 81(1): 65-77.
71. Schmidtlein MC, Deutsch RC, Piegorsch WW, Cutter SL (2008) A sensitivity analysis of the social vulnerability index. Risk Anal 28(4): 1099-1114.
72. Simpson D, Katirai M (2006) Indicator issues and proposed framework for a disaster preparedness index (DPi). University of Louisville, 49 pp.
73. Steffen WL (2009) Climate change 2009: Faster change & more serious risks. Department of Climate Change. http://www.anu.edu.au/climatechange/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/climate-change-faster-change-and-more-serious-risks-final.pdf. Accessed 01 Oct 2011.
74. Tapsell S, McCarthy S, Faulkner H, Alexander M (2010) Social vulnerability to natural hazards. Flood Hazard Research Centre (FHRC), Middlesex University. http://caphaz-net.org/outcomes-results/CapHaz-Net_WP4_Social-Vulnerability2.pdf Accessed 01 Oct 2011.
75. Turner BL, Kasperson RE, Matson PA, McCarthy JJ, Corell RW, Christensen L, Eckley N, Kasperson JX, Luers A, Martello ML, Polsky C, Pulsipher A, Schiller A (2003) A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 100(14): 8074-8079. doi: 10. 1073/pnas. 1231335100.
76. UNISDR (2004) Living with risk. A global review of disaster reduction initiatives.
77. Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission (2009) The Interim Report of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Commission. State Government of Victoria, Melbourne.
78. Vincent K (2004) Creating an index of social vulnerability to climate change for Africa. Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research Working Paper 56.
79. Vyas S, Kumaranayake L (2006) Constructing socio-economic status indices: how to use principal components analysis. Health Policy Plan 21(6): 459-468.
80. Wei YM, Fan Y, Lu C, Tsai HT (2004) The assessment of vulnerability to natural disasters in China by using the DEA method. Environ Impact Assess Rev 24(4): 427-439.
81. Wisner B, Blakie P, Cannon T, Davis I (2004) At Risk: natural hazards, peoples vulnerability and disasters, 2nd edn. Routledge, London.
82. Wood N, Burton C, Cutter S (2010) Community variations in social vulnerability to Cascadia-related tsunamis in the US Pacific Northwest. Nat Hazards 52(2): 369-389.
83. Wu S, Yarnal B, Fisher A (2002) Vulnerability of coastal communities to sealevel rise: a case study of Cape May County, New Jersey, USA. Clim Res 22(3): 255-270.
84. Yeletaysi S, Ozceylan D, Fiedrich F, Harrald J, Jefferson T (2009) A framework to integrate social vulnerability into catastrophic natural disaster preparedness planning. In: TIEMS Annual Conference, Istanbul, pp 380-389.
85. Zahran S, Brody SD, Peacock WG, Vedlitz A, Grover H (2008) Social vulnerability and the natural and built environment: a model of flood casualties in Texas. Disasters 32(4): 537-560.