Understanding our community-level vulnerabilities can help us all prepare for emergencies like floods and heat waves.
Vulnerability indicators attempt to shed light on the underlying factors that influence why some communities are more affected by a particular hazard, such as a natural disaster. Vulnerability indicators can serve as planning tools to focus health impact prevention efforts in areas of Vermont at greatest risk. Vulnerability indicators can also be used when there is a disease outbreak or an emergency to identify populations who may need more help with response and recovery.
Social Vulnerability in Vermont
Social vulnerability refers to the resilience of communities when responding to or recovering from threats to public health. The Vermont Social Vulnerability Index is a planning tool to evaluate the relative social vulnerability across the state. It can be used if there is a disease outbreak or in the event of an emergency—either natural or human-caused—to identify populations that may need more help.
The Vermont Social Vulnerability Index draws together 16 different measures of vulnerability in three different themes: socioeconomic, demographic, and housing/transportation. The user guide provides the methods used to produce the index.
Explore the Vermont Social Vulnerability Index
heat Vulnerability in Vermont
The Heat Vulnerability Report provides a description of and rationale for the methods used to produce the Vermont Heat Vulnerability Index. A summary of the description is also available.
Explore the Vermont Heat Vulnerability Index
Learn more about health equity in Vermont.