Ever since hurricane Katrina, it has been an open secret: the old, the poor and immigrants suffer most when natural disasters strike the US.
Now Susan Cutter and Christina Finch at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, US, have taken these and other hallmarks of vulnerability to show where people would be hit hardest were a natural disaster to strike.
The resulting indices of vulnerability, going back to 1960 and with a projection to 2010, show a slight decrease in vulnerability nationwide (see map, right). Among the regions where things have got worse are California and the Texas-Mexico border, probably because low-income immigrant populations have settled there.
New York City and San Francisco have the greatest potential for suffering. A highly urbanised population means injuries, fatalities and infrastructure losses would be large, says Cutter.
The researchers conclude that a "one-size-fits-all" approach to disaster response fails many people. North Carolina and California have introduced vulnerability into their emergency planning, says Cutter, and more states should follow suit.
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