Sociological aspects of natural hazards

Every disaster has a significant social impact as it affects the population. People’s vulnerability is directly related to their sociological aspects, which are generally overlooked in disaster management. These socio-economic conditions, such as low income, health concerns, lack of education, poor housing, pregnant women, single-parent families, the elderly, and the very young are critical factors in determining the level of disaster risk. This special issue encompasses various sociological aspects and their consequences due to natural hazards. The paper by Hewitt examines relations between natural hazards and social conditions in disasters, and problems with their integration into disaster management. Social analyses suggest the scope of today’s disasters follows primarily from greater concentrations of vulnerable people, exposed in dangerous situations, and lacking adequate protection. A view of disaster causality emerges emphasizing avoidable failures of preventive, protective, and intervention measures. The case for greater attention to issues of governance and social justice is emphasized. The second paper by Armenakis and Nirupama investigates the determination of vulnerability indicators based on GIS-derived spatial and attribute data for hazard and evacuation zones, followed by quantitative spatial risk estimation and ranking. For the determination of disaster risk, the overall community vulnerability was evaluated by combining social, economic, physical, and environmental vulnerabilities. This paper uses a propane explosion incident as the case in point to demonstrate the methodology and procedure for risk using GIS modeling techniques. The effects of extreme weather on economic well-being in rural Mozambique are analyzed by Matyas and Silva. Rainfall anomalies were established for a 12-year rainfall period using satellite imagery and GIS. They also approximate storm–total rainfall from tropical cyclones entering the Mozambique Channel. They indicate that the impact of receiving abovenormal rainfall may hinder economic well-being more than below-normal rainfall. The study also identifies patterns in sub-national rainfall variability and economic well-being, thus enabling a more detailed understanding of weather-related effects on socio-economic outcomes. The paper by Nirupama studies the risk perception and the importance of