A GIS-BASED SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY VULNERABILITY TO HAZARDOUS CONTAMINANTS ON THE MEXICO US BORDER/

Growing industrial development in the Mexico/U.S. border region is cre ating potential health risks for citizens of both nations. planners an d policy makers working in this region must prepare for hazardous mate rial accidents in a situation of limited information. This research de velops a geographic information system-based approach for estimating a nd determining community vulnerability to hazardous material releases in Nogales, Sonora/Arizona. A composite mapping analysis of human-rela ted and hazard-related variables determines high vulnerability locatio ns. In addition, a sensitivity analysis explores a full range of vulne rability scenarios based on different weighted combinations of the hum an-related and hazard-related factors. Results demonstrate that a cas- based approach can effectively compensate for much of the inherent sub jectivity in a composite mapping analysis.