16
Tecnología y Ciencias del Agua
, vol. VIII, núm. 2, marzo-abril de 2017, pp. 5-18
Lee
et al
.,
Relationships between floods and social fragmentation: A case study of Chiayi, Taiwan
•
ISSN 2007-2422
human society can help mitigate and adapt to
future disasters. This study identifies four types
of social fragmentation that include “continuous
high social fragmentation,” “transformed social
fragmentation,” “fluctuating social fragmenta-
tion” and “continuous low social fragmenta-
tion.” Of the four types, “continuous high social
fragmentation” is located in coastal Chiayi.
Meanwhile, “transformed social fragmentation”
is clustered in the plain area. “Fluctuated social
fragmentation” occurs in the hill-mountain area.
Finally, “continuous low social fragmentation”
occurs only in Taibao City, because it is the cou-
nty capital and located in the core of the county.
Clearly studies may overlook such potential
social fragmentation if the longitudinal trend
analysis is missing. Restated, trend analysis
is required to clarify different characteristics
of social fragmentation. Analysis of changing
trends based on the longitudinal data as well as
the loss maps of flood disasters thus can avoid
the limitations of the event-based perspective on
discussing disaster, and can also provide histori-
cal and local contexts for further insights into
human agency and the institutional mechanism
of natural hazards.
Unlike the traditional social vulnerability
approach of using indicator measurements,
this study suggests that social fragmentation is
related to social integration in terms of social
systems. The social fragmentation approach
thus can help adjust the shortage of indicator
measurements.
Some interesting follow-up analysis can
be performed to identify more appropriate
variables that can be used to calculate social
fragmentation, and that can help identify the
relationships between social fragmentation
and social vulnerability, the two factors that
determine differences in resilience and adap-
tation between cities, counties and countries.
Furthermore, analysis of social fragmenta-
tion and physical vulnerability dynamics
by land type category can help to assess the
specificity of each profile and confirm the study
classification.
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