Social Vulnerability in Chile: Challenges for multi-scale analysis and disaster risk reduction

Socio-natural disasters have a deep impact on exposed countries; hence, management for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and the development of methods to measure social vulnerability, such as the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI), have become crucial for better understanding and reducing pre-existing risk conditions. Still, little is known about the effects of different Spatio-temporal scales on social vulnerability. The objective of this research is to identify the factors that determine social vulnerability in Chile, the implications of using four different territorial scales, differentiating for urban/rural territory, and the implications in DRR. The research considers the SoVI method, using the national census and the socio-economic household survey to construct 25 variables at the zone/locality levels, and the use of a GIS platform. On average, eight vulnerability components are defined per model, with an average explanatory variance of 71%. Our analysis shows that social vulnerability in Chile is highly conditioned by access to basic services, low educational level, quality of housing, and income levels. Furthermore, the use of SoVI has made it possible to determine that the use of different scales is an opportunity and a tool for decision-makers that should be investigated for planning purposes and the design of DRR policies.