Sustainability and Social Justice
Assessing the Vulnerability of Coastal Communities to Extreme Storms: The Case of Revere, Massachusetts, US
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Climate change may affect the frequency, intensity, and geographic distribution of severe coastal storms. Concurrent sea-level rise would raise the baseline of flooding during such events. Meanwhile, social vulnerability factors such as poverty and disability hinder the ability to cope with storms and storm damage. While physical changes are likely to remain scientifically uncertain into the foreseeable future, the ability to mitigate potential impacts from coastal flooding may be fostered by better understanding the interplay of social and physical factors that produce human vulnerability. This study does so by integrating the classic causal model of hazards with social, environmental, and spatial dynamics that lead to the differential ability of people to cope with hazards. It uses Census data, factor analysis, data envelopment analysis, and floodplain maps to understand the compound social and physical vulnerability of coastal residents in the city of Revere, MA, USA.
Publication Title
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change
Publication Date
12-1-1998
Volume
3
Issue
1
First Page
59
Last Page
82
ISSN
1381-2386
DOI
10.1023/A:1009609710795
Repository Citation
Clark, George E.; Moser, Susanne C.; Ratick, Samuel J.; Dow, Kirstin; Meyer, William B.; Emani, Srinivas; Jin, Weigen; Kasperson, Jeanne X.; Kasperson, Roger E.; and Schwarz, Harry E., "Assessing the Vulnerability of Coastal Communities to Extreme Storms: The Case of Revere, Massachusetts, US" (1998). Sustainability and Social Justice. 481.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_idce/481
