This article draws from the experience of the ongoing drafting of the Regional Plan of the Centre Region of Portugal, and the empirical application of the Social Vulnerability Index proposed by Susan Cutter. It consists in the construction of an index of social vulnerability to natural and technological hazards and to social risks for all the municipalities of the region. Methodologically, it extends the vulnerability analysis to technological hazards and social risks, as a more encompassing view is necessary for the elaboration of prevention and civil protection policies. The results confirm the interactive nature of social vulnerability, and they also reflect the diffuse urbanisation and industrialisation patterns that characterise Portugal. The scattered nature of social facilities and security and health infrastructures pose specific challenges to planners concerning risk prevention and mitigation, and the elaboration of effective risk communication strategies adapted to specific hazards and risks in the studied municipalities. The article concludes with some reflections on the need to revise established paradigms of disaster analysis and emphasise the importance of pre‐event planning and the social cartography of vulnerable populations for effective prevention and security policies that take into account social inequalities and citizenship rights.

The article proposes a framework establishing a disaster resilience index applicable worldwide that accounts for differences between countries in terms of development and in terms of the relevance of several resilience dimensions. To achieve this index, countries were clustered using an indicator that reflected their performance according to the Sustainable Development Goals. For each cluster of countries, a Delphi process was used to obtain scores for every resilience dimension and sub-dimension that were then transformed into weights that varied from cluster to cluster to reflect differences in sustainable development. The article discusses the methodology that led to the quantification of the weights according to the Delphi process, as well as its results. The results highlighted the anticipated differences between different groups of countries, but also reflected cluster-specific features that should be accounted for when analyzing disaster resilience. The article also discusses different applications and possible improvements of the proposed framework based on comments collected during the Delphi process.

Neste artigo apresenta‑se um novo modelo de análise da vulnerabilidade social aos perigos naturais e tecnológicos. O índice utilizado nesta análise permite a estruturação da avaliação da vulnerabilidade em duas dimensões: as vulnerabilidades das populações e comunidades (criticidade) e a vulnerabilidade territorial (capacidade de suporte), os quais reflectem a exposição ou a vulnerabilidade biofísica, a resiliência social e a capacidade de suporte infraestrutural. Este novo índice de vulnerabilidade social é aplicado ao sistema territorial de Portugal continental, tendo por base a escala municipal e submunicipal, apreendendo a resiliência social dos indivíduos, dos grupos e das comunidades face a acontecimentos extremos. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam o papel crucial da escala na análise dos processos relacionados com a vulnerabilidade social. Propõe‑se que a cartografia das áreas e dos grupos mais vulneráveis, bem como a identificação dos factores desencadeantes, podem constituir um contributo relevante para os programas de ordenamento e de planeamento destinados a mitigar os riscos e as vulnerabilidades do território.