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Abstract
In recent years, natural hazards have gained relevance due to increased frequency, intensity, and the devastation they have left behind. This, in turn, has made ever more evident the need for tools to assist emergency responders in the challenging roles they undertake on a daily basis. This work addresses the development of an adaptive capacity index for floods for the municipality of Rincón, P.R. This work suggests that adaptive capacity can be measured as a function of: mitigation, response, and recovery. These dimensions are more complex to quantify than any other dimension of vulnerability, which correlates with the lack of quantitative studies on adaptive capacity in the literature. A conceptual framework for adaptive capacity was created based on literary research. This framework classified key attributes of adaptive capacity into one of its sub-dimensions. Using Cronbach's alpha, the framework was reduced to the attributes that significantly contributed to each of the proposed dimensions. These variables and custom surveys were used to fit an adaptive capacity index as an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model. Results include a conceptual framework for adaptive capacity and a heat map of Rincón's county sub-divisions in terms of adaptive capacity.
Keywords
Adaptive capacity, vulnerability, analytical hierarchy process, floods, natural hazards
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1.Introduction
Over the years, the occurrence of natural hazards has increased in terms of the frequency and magnitude of these events and, hence, the devastation they have left behind all over the world. Puerto Rico, a small island in the Caribbean, has attributes that makes it vulnerable to a variety of these natural hazards-most notably floods, tsunamis, and hurricanes. While the Caribbean has recently experienced massive losses that can be linked to numerous natural hazards, historically, floods have been the leading cause of natural-hazard-driven damages in the region. In order to reduce the amount of damage caused by these phenomena and make the recovery process easier, communities have to prepare themselves.
According to the hazards literature, vulnerability indexes can be used by practitioners to identify regions that are considered hotspots in order to better assist them in an emergency. They can use this tool to develop mitigation strategies and identify the emergency management resources needed in the area. While in the hazards literature there is...