| Vulnerability assessment plays an important role in the process of hazard mitigation planning. Two critical points are, however, often neglected: (i) the combination of physical and social vulnerability and (ii) an objective method. Therefore, this research focused on improving the comprehensive vulnerability modeling approach.; The model embraces both physical and social vulnerability. An objective method includes statistically proven procedures to get the weights of variables using the Bayes' Rule and to ensure independence between variables using by the factor analysis. A GIS environment is finally used to enhance spatial and non-spatial vulnerability analysis and to map various results.; The comprehensive vulnerability model was applied to the Town of Dryden, Tompkins County in New York State. The town has experienced flood damage over the last two decades and some areas are extremely vulnerable. At the time of this research, the town was in the process of preparing a Hazard Mitigation Plan. Factor vulnerabilities with physical conditions can be used to enhance hazard mitigation planning and emergency planning.; Overall vulnerability results show that in addition to flood zones defined on Flood Insurance Rate Maps, close attention needs to be paid to the southern and northern parts of the town. The vulnerability of mobile home parks in the town was also highlighted.; Four main findings emerge from this study. First, social vulnerability provides the additional important information. Second, Bayesian approach allows having objective weights on variables. Third, social factors from the factor analysis give a detail analysis and show the potential uses for natural hazard mitigation. Lastly, GIS technology is a useful platform for vulnerability assessment. |
