Measuring Community Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards: A Method for Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Data

Abstract

This article has developed and implemented a method for incorporating and combining quantitative and qualitative data in measuring community vulnerability to environmental hazards. To illustrate the method in practice, a case study of landslides in Chittagong City Corporation (CCC), Bangladesh, is used. Quantitative information from household-level questionnaires is combined with qualitative maps and diagrams from participatory rural appraisal (PRA) surveying. Seven different PRA tools were implemented: social and resource mapping; transect mapping; vulnerability and dream mapping; mobility mapping; Venn diagrams; pair-wise ranking; and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. A convergent parallel design and weighted average decision support method is applied, covering community vulnerability indicators for physical, social, economic, ecological, institutional, and cultural aspects. The overall vulnerability on a scale of –1 of Motijharna, Batali Hill, and Golpahar communities in CCC is calculated respectively as .75, .68, and .56.