Constructing a Matrix of Vulnerability from Emergency Managers’ Perceptions of Vulnerable Populations

• In Event: 181 - Regular Session. Disasters: Resilience, Vulnerability, and Risk

Abstract

This article presents findings from group interviews with individuals involved in the emergency management community Central Florida and examines the factors that emergency management personnel believe contribute to disaster vulnerability. Exploring how participants’ descriptions of vulnerability can be used to construct a complex process of vulnerability. Ultimately I propose the matrix of vulnerability as a new theoretical understanding of vulnerability that is informed by the perceptions of emergency managers wherein vulnerability as an intersectional process mediated not only by social factors and physical location but also human agency.

Author

• Marc R. Settembrino, Southeastern Louisiana University