Construction of a social vulnerability index in relation to natural hazard for the Italian territory [Costruzione di un indice di vulnerabilità sociale in relazione a pericolosità naturali per il territorio italiano]

The aim of this paper is to assess social vulnerability index (SVI) against natural hazards at national scale for Italy. The methodology applyed is based on the application of SoVI method, proposed by Cutter et al. in 2003. After a careful selection of socio-economic indicators for Italian country, 15 proxy variables were prepared as input data for multivariate statistical analysis. The application of Factor Analysis (FA) produced 4 factors interpreted as: Age, Employment, Education and Anthropization. Then, the factors were combined into an additive index and finally, the SVI was mapped to evaluate its spatial distribution. The results maps can be a useful tool for territorial and emergency management planners and for Civil Protection and Policymakers to have more information about the different aspects of social vulnerability to adopt priority actions and guidelines for disaster risk reduction.