Towards Efficient
Assessment of Coastal Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise
El-Shahat Sh
Disaster Advances; Vol. 14(9); 34-42;
doi: https://doi.org/10.25303/149da3442; (2021)
Abstract
Vulnerability is a compact term that represents an accumulative range of exposure,
sensitivity and resilience of a system against both internal and external hazards.
In light of this conceptual diagnosis, vulnerability assessment studies can measure
the degree of a gap in which the system is vulnerable against various hazards by
customizing a quantitative model while qualitative model studies indicate gap points.
The results of quantitative models vary according to the adopted formula and the
customized parameters. The study aims to improve the efficiency of the "coastal
vulnerability index (CVI)" method which is used to assign degrees of coastal vulnerability
to sea level rise (SLR).
The study is using a comparative analytical approach to empirically assess the vulnerability
of the African coast to SLR based on a selected group of physical and socioeconomic
parameters (seventeen parameters). Although the first model, based on a formula
of the square root of product mean and the second model, based on a formula of average
of the square root of product sum, have a positive correlation with semistrong relation
(+ 0.65), their results are varied. It is found that the first model is used when
there is a dominant parameter in the study while the second model is used when there
is an equality between parameter weights. Topography associated with proximity to
the coast is a dominant factor when assessing the vulnerability of an area to SLR
threat.