Vulnerability Assessment Techniques and Applications (VATA)

Workshop Introduction

This workshop series provides opportunities to explore new ideas and partnerships in the development, analysis, and application of vulnerability assessments for researchers and practitioners from governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and the private sector.

Follow these links for more information on the individual workshops;
VAT I Workshop Agenda (PDF), VAT II Workshop Agenda (PDF), VAT III Workshop Agenda (PDF). (note: Download Adobe ® Acrobat ® to view these documents.)

Did You Know?
Most Vulnerability Assessment Methodologies (VAM) are oriented toward calculating building loss estimates and the accompanying direct financial losses. These principal applications of the VAM are intended to promote structural retrofitting and/or insurance or re-insurance programs.

Workshop recommendations are used in the following ways:

by working group members in institutional contexts to improve product and program development
by the Working Group on Vulnerability Assessments and Indexing (VAI) of the Inter-American Committee on Natural Disaster Reduction (IACNDR) to continue its program of support to the OAS Permanent Council for consideration of policy and strategic action initiatives for formal consideration by the countries within the Western Hemisphere.

These workshops will generate ideas that the Organization of American States (OAS) General Secretariat will communicate directly to the governments of the member states.

How the Workshops Got Started

The OAS Unit for Sustainable Development and Environment (USDE) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center jointly host the VAT workshops to create a networking opportunity and dialogue for exploring new ideas and potential partnerships in the application of vulnerability assessments.

Initial Workshop Objective

The objective of the VAT I workshop was to identify, present, and discuss a variety of natural hazard vulnerability assessment methodologies and their applications, and identify gaps in coverage, particularly from the point of view of present and potential users at all levels of public and private sectors. This has been a primary focus in developing the other workshops as well.

The Diversity of Vulnerability Assessment Methodologies

While multihazard or multi-peril VAMs were presented and discussed, the majority of VAMs oriented toward structural mitigation or increased use of insurance were single-hazard with earthquake hazards being the most prevalent.

A small number of the VAMs presented dealt with the rank ordering of building types or geographical areas according to vulnerability, and still fewer were intended to be used for applications related to humanitarian assistance at the international or regional level. Robust VAM development has transpired outside the U.S., and certainly the Americas have as much, if not more, VAM application experience as any region in the world. There is growing interest on the part of the international development community in VAM.

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