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Benchmark Analysis for Quantifying Urban Vulnerability to Terrorist Incidents
Author(s) -
Piegorsch Walter W.,
Cutter Susan L.,
Hardisty Frank
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
risk analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1539-6924
pISSN - 0272-4332
DOI - 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2007.00977.x
Subject(s) - terrorism , vulnerability (computing) , social vulnerability , vulnerability assessment , benchmark (surveying) , metric (unit) , computer security , poison control , risk assessment , computer science , risk analysis (engineering) , geography , political science , engineering , environmental health , business , psychology , cartography , law , medicine , social psychology , operations management , psychological resilience
We describe a quantitative methodology to characterize the vulnerability of U.S. urban centers to terrorist attack, using a place‐based vulnerability index and a database of terrorist incidents and related human casualties. Via generalized linear statistical models, we study the relationships between vulnerability and terrorist events, and find that our place‐based vulnerability metric significantly describes both terrorist incidence and occurrence of human casualties from terrorist events in these urban centers. We also introduce benchmark analytic technologies from applications in toxicological risk assessment to this social risk/vulnerability paradigm, and use these to distinguish levels of high and low urban vulnerability to terrorism. It is seen that the benchmark approach translates quite flexibly from its biological roots to this social scientific archetype.