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Abstract

Flood risk exhibit important spatial and temporal variability at different scales. This study focus on the spatial variability of social vulnerability, as one of the main drivers of flood risk. Social vulnerability was quantified and evaluated through the social vulnerability index by Cutter et al. (2012) adapted to represent nearly-pristine sociohydrological systems. Vulnerability was evaluated at different scales, namely: households, city blocks, and city neighbourhoods. Three communities located along the Carampangue river in Chile: Arauco, Carampangue and Ramadillas, were considered as study case. Results reveal important variability of social vulnerability which decreases with the spatial scale of analysis. Even though there are no formal methods to validate the obtained social vulnerability index values, a sensitivity analysis showed low sensitivity of the obtained results to the input variables, which can be interpreted as a reliable estimation of vulnerability for risk computation. Obtained results suggest that risk management should consider risk components: hazard, vulnerability and exposed values, at the household scale in order to benefit from attributes such as individual values, attitudes and the social network for risk prevention and reduction. Obtained results are part of the project Climate Change and the Sociohydrology of Floods, funded by the Anillos program of the Chilean Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, that aims at improving flood risk quantification through enhanced consideration of social attributes in vulnerability computation, applying a sociohydrologic perspective.