Socioeconomic and infrastructural vulnerability indices for cyclones in the eastern coastal states of India.

Numerous disasters over the past several years have revealed the differential impacts due to social structure, economic conditions and level of infrastructure. This study investigates the vulnerability of eastern coastal states of India from potential cyclones. In this regard, a method is proposed for quantifying the socio-economic and infrastructural vulnerability to potential cyclone in the districts of the eastern coastal states. The variables included in the study are extracted from Census of India (2011) at district level administrative unit. In the analysis, a large number of variables are reduced to a smaller number of factors by using factor analysis, specifically principal component analysis that represents the socioeconomic and infrastructural vulnerability to potential cyclone. Subsequently, the factor scores have been mapped for spatial analysis using Jenk's natural break technique. Utilizing socioeconomic and infrastructural vulnerability indices, the highly vulnerable districts are demonstrated, which are expected to face substantial amount of challenges in coping with cyclones. The highly vulnerable districts require strategies to address the various aspects of socioeconomic and infrastructural vulnerability. The indices and maps produced in this paper could not only be incorporated for multi-level governance but also to integrate it with the real-time weather forecasts to identify the predictive areas of vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]