Researchers:
PI: Susan L. Cutter, Geography, University of South Carolina
Co-PIs: Jerry Mitchell and Bryan Boruff, Geography, University of South Carolina
Mission:
This research systematically assesses the disparities in the level of damage (physical vulnerability) and the socio-economic characteristics of residents (social vulnerability) along the Mississippi-Alabama coast. This project will collect geographically referenced field data on the location and extent of the destruction caused by storm surge inundation. Field data will be correlated with empirically derived social vulnerability indices to more fully explain place-based vulnerability to disaster events, in other words which communities were the most vulnerable and why. The results will provide information to state and local officials as they begin the process of reconstruction of these coastal and inland communities.
Funded by the office of the Vice President for Research and Health Sciences, University of South Carolina.