University of South Carolina Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute
The Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute (HVRI) is an interdisciplinary research and graduate and undergraduate training center focused on the development of theory, data, metrics, methods, applications, and spatial analytical models for understanding the newly emergent field of hazard vulnerability science.
In addition to basic research, HVRI facilitates local, state, and federal government efforts to improve emergency preparedness, planning, and response and disaster resilience through its outreach activities. These activities include providing technical assistance to and translational products for the practitioner community as well as training emergency managers in GIS applications. Partnerships with federal, state, and local emergency managers are also an important component of the Institute’s purpose and mission.
HVRI is researching 'Baseline Indicators for Monitoring Disaster Resilience in Rural Places,' with a goal of providing a set of quantitative baseline indicators for measuring disaster resilience. This project integrates physical and social datasets through a suite of statistical and geospatial techniques in the construction of theoretically based and methodologically sound indicators of resilience for the nation at the county level.
The Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) 2006-10 measures the social vulnerability of U.S. counties to environmental hazards. The index is a comparative metric that facilitates the examination of the differences in social vulnerability among counties, graphically illustrating the geographic variation in social vulnerability. It shows where there is uneven capacity for preparedness and response and where resources might be used most effectively to reduce the pre-existing vulnerability.
Other current projects include: 'Enhancing Social Vulnerability Mapping for Use in Assessing Coastal Risk' which will assist the NOAA Coastal Services Center (CSC) in enhancing the use of the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI™) in their coastal decision support tools and other coastal applications, a multitude of hazard assessments, hurricane research, and GIScience and Remote Sensing.
Phone: (803) 777-1699
Related Resources:
- Vulnerability and Climate Change in the U.S. Southeast
- Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative
- Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI)
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