Human vulnerability in volcanic environments: the case of Furnas, Sao Miguel, Azores

The need to examine the vulnerability of people to natural hazards, in addi tion to the long-established requirement to study extreme events of nature, is being increasingly recognised within disaster research. Following a dis cussion of the nature of human vulnerability, we propose a framework for it s analysis within the context of volcanic activity and we exemplify our app roach by a detailed study of Furnas, a village located at the centre of a v olcano with the same name on the island of Sao Miguel in the Azores. The me thods used included in-depth interviews with permanent residents (n = 50), analysis of census records and an examination of the socio-economic history of the town. The vulnerability of an individual to volcanic hazards involv es a complex interaction of elements which, in addition to the usual factor s taken into account in programmes of hazard reduction (e.g., the nature of the physical threat, location and economic situation), also comprises his or her social context and a number of physiological and psychological consi derations. It is argued, further, that both generally and in the case of Fu rnas, the root causes of vulnerability lie in the history and development o f society. Individual decision making is fundamental but takes place within and cannot be separated from this social context. Vulnerability analysis a llows the identification of points where intervention may be successful in reducing the likelihood of suffering in a society. It avoids the problem of people's unexpected reactions to invention leading to a changing or even i ncreasing level of vulnerability, by studying society rather than just one aspect of volcanic hazard in isolation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.