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- Title
A Comparison of Hazard Vulnerability Indexes for Washington State.
- Authors
Sheehan, Tim; Min, Esther; Hess, Jeremy
- Abstract
Factors associated with structural racism, disenfranchisement, poverty, and other persistent sources of inequity are associated with vulnerability and exposure to environmental hazards. Social, demographic, and environmental factors associated with vulnerability to environmental hazards have been used by many researchers to produce indexes of hazard vulnerability. In preparation for a climate change health risk assessment for Washington state, we compared methods and results from six indexes designed to support environmental health risk assessment. Production of these indexes varies in the number of variables considered, calculation complexity, and exposure of local causal pathways. Results for these indexes are generally very similar, especially at the highest decile of vulnerability, the exception being the Environmental Health Disparities index, the only one to consider hazard exposure. Some indexes used methods that hide causal pathways. Those that exposed causal pathways limited model structure. Results indicate that simpler indexes may be more appropriate for use in decision support tools as they require less overhead for data updates and scenario analysis and that other methodologies may provide a more useful framework for index generation.
- Subjects
WASHINGTON (State); RISK assessment of climate change; HEALTH risk assessment; ENVIRONMENTAL risk assessment; INSTITUTIONAL racism; ENVIRONMENTAL health
- Publication
Journal of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, 2023, Vol 20, Issue 2, p59
- ISSN
1547-7355
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1515/jhsem-2021-0066