The Relationship between Turkey's Provinces' Development Levels and Social and Economic Vulnerability to Disasters

Abstract

The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between vulnerability and social and economic development by analyzing a region's socioeconomic development (SED) level and social and economic vulnerability (SEV) level, and to show the direction and the power of this correlation. In literature there are studies supporting this correlation. Some of these studies claim that social and economic development adds some new dimensions to vulnerability. This study which has been done with data on Turkey's provinces, uses four different types of analysis to see different dimensions of this correlation. The results show that SEV is partially correlated with SED, yet there are other aspects that appear to be unrelated. Thus in order to reduce future damage and make better planning, detailed vulnerability analyses have to be conducted.