¿Somos todos iguales ante una inundación? Análisis de la vulnerabilidad social en el litoral mediterráneo español.

In Spain, floods represent the danger originated in nature that causes greatest loss to both human life and economy. Understanding the risk as a social construction, evaluation of the modification results proves to be crucial in order to improve the exposed population's adaptation. The use of indices is one of the several methods used to carry carry through those evaluations. In the present research we used a replica of the SOVI® (Social Vulnerability Index), one of the most used worldwide indices and its adaptation has been implemented in an area of special sensitivity for floods: the Mediterranean coast in the Region of Murcia and the Valencian Community (Spain). The results obtained show a greater social vulnerability in non-floodable census sections than in those that can be flooded and reveal a pattern of social inequality in areas where the hydrographic network presents an ephemeral and sudden runoff such as the ramblas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]