ASSESSING COMMUNITY VULNERABILITY TO HAZARDOUS MATERIALS WITH A GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM

Robert B. McMaster James H. Johnson, Jr. Department of Geography University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, California 90024
ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the utility of a risk assessment model as an anticipatory hazardous management tool using a grid-based geographic Specifically, the risks resulting information system. from the on-site storage of hazardous materials and from transport of dangerous commodities through a city Santa Monica, California, was one has been analyzed. of the first cities in the U.S. to enact a hazardous materials disclosure ordinance and, therefore, was A selected for the community vulnerability analysis. comprehensive geographic data base of Santa Monica was In all, fifty developed at a 100 meter resolution. variables were incorporated into the data base, inclu ding transportation networks in varying detail, traffic population ethnicity, volume along major routes, density, age structures, landuse, earthquake fault lines, institutions, elevation, and nine categories of hazardous material based on the United Nations classi fication. These data were then analyzed using the Map Analysis Package (MAPS) developed at Yale University in order to derive a series of maps depicting the con toured risk surface of the city. Based on the results of this analysis, a set of strategies designed to reduce the risk of hazardous materials incidents in Santa Monica are being formulated in conjunction with local emergency managers.
INTRODUCTION

In the United States incidents involving uninten tional releases of hazardous materials into the envi ronment occur frequently. A recent EPA study revealed, for example, that during the first five years of this decade about five accidents a day resulted in the release of toxic materials into the environment from small and large production facilities (Diamond, 1985). During the ten year period ending in 1983, there were 126,086 transportation accidents involving accidental releases of hazardous materials, an average of nearly These incidents claimed 260 lives, 13,000 a year. caused more than 700 injuries, and resulted in property and equipment damage in excess of $146 million (U.S. In addition, Department of Transportation, 1983). during the ten year period ending in 1982, there were 18,470 gas pipeline failures which claimed 340 lives

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and injured another 3536 people. Nearly two-thirds of these pipeline failures were attributed to damage, caused by excavations, and the remainder to corrosion, (U.S. and material failures construction defects, Department of Transportation, 1984) . The U.S. government has taken steps both to reduce substantially the occurrence of hazardous materials incidents and to minimize the potentially adverse effects on people and property when accidents actually It has occur (Hohenesmer, Kates and Slovic, 1983). been estimated, for example, that in 1979 the U.S. spent $30 billion on hazard mitigation and emergency How preparedness (Hohenesmer and Kasperson, 1982) . ever, we tend to concur with Tierney when she states that "local emergency personnel are in the best posi tion to know about the hazards in their own community" Building upon this view, Johnson and (1980, p. 78). Zeigler (1986) have developed a simple risk assessment model which should enable local emergency managers to determine the extent to which their communities are Their vulnerable to hazardous materials incidents. risk assessment model requires local emergency managers first, to identify the hazards present in their commu nity and to map the hazard zone each enscribes on the landscape; second, to superimpose on the map population distribution and land-use data; and third, to use this information to develop site-specific strategies to reduce the risks and to mitigate the potential negative consequences should an accident occur. Application of the model requires local jurisdictions to enact legis lation which stipulates, as part of the licensing pro cess, that businesses disclose the kinds and amounts of hazardous materials used, generated, or stored onsite. These data serve as the basis for the development of a system tracking materials hazardous comprehensive which, in turn, is used to assess the vulnerability of population and areas within local jurisdictions to hazardous materials incidents. In this paper, we focus on application of the hazardous materials risk assessment model developed by Johnson and Zeigler (1986), advocating the use of a geographic information system called MAP (Map Analysis Package) in the hazards identification and community vulnerability assessment process. Toward this end, we First, we shall proceed in the following manner. outline the major components of MAP and discuss the requisite data bases. Next, we apply MAP in the actual hazardous materials risk assessment, arriving at a series of maps depicting the contoured risk surface of the City of Santa Monica, one of the first municipali ties to enact a hazardous materials disclosure ordi Finally, we identify nance (Staff Reporter, 1985). several steps which can be taken to reduce substantial ly the risks of hazardous materials incidents in Santa Monica.
MAP AND THE DATABASE

Since it was decided to geocode data in raster format, the Map Analysis Package (MAP) developed at

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Yale University was selected for storing and analyzing the spatial data. The four significant capabilities of overlay, reclassification, package,including this cartographic mensuration, and neighborhood analysis, proved ideal in revealing the relationship between the hazardous materials and the population and institutions Currently, a vector-based system is being at risk. developed in order to generate contour and 3-D mapping capability. For the purposes of this study, four categories of and physiography, landuse, (demographics, data hazardous materials) were geocoded at a resolution of 100M and entered into the Map Analysis Package (MAP) The demographic data were taken from the (Table 1) . The land use 1980 Census of Population and Housing. data were obtained from the Santa Monica City Planning The City's Office of Emergency Preparedness Office. provided the data pertaining to the types and location of hazardous materials. Category Demographic Specific variables population under 5, 5 to 15, 15 to 65, and over 65, language, popula tion density, percent white, asian, black, hispanic, other minority, institutions land use, storm drains, transporta tion, freeway, roads, traffic flow topography, earthquakes

Land Use Physiography

Hazardous Materials explosives, gases, flammable liquids, flammable solids, oxidizers and organic peroxides, poison ous and infectious materials, radioactive materials, corrosives, miscellaneous hazardous materials, cleaners, gunshops, major oil pipes, polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and underground gas tanks Table 1. Variables Included in the Data Base ANALYSIS Figure 1 depicts the distribution of hazardous In developing this map, we materials in Santa Monica. utilized the United Nations Classification of Hazardous Materials as well as Zeigler, Johnson, and Brunn's (1983) typology of technological hazards to arrive at a As total of fourteen classes of hazardous materials. the figure shows, many of the sites were found to contain only 1 or 2 types of hazardous materials, but For others contained as many as five categories. example, two sites, located in close proximity to the Santa Monica Freeway, stored flammable liquids, explo sives, gases, poisons, and corrosives. In general, the

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distribution of hazardous materials parallels the Santa Monica Freeway in a northeast-southwest direction. Following the methodology proposed by Johnson and Zeigler (1986), the next step in the risk assessment process was to identify both the population and the institutions at risk to hazardous materials in Santa Monica. For the purpose of determining the population at risk, the actual number of hazards per grid cell was used instead of the types of hazards in each cell, as in Figure 1. Analyses of the demographic data revealed that three subgroup of the population are especially Minority group vulnerable to hazardous materials. members in Santa Monica (i.e., Asians, Blacks, and Hispanics) reside extremely close to the "high inten sity" storage of hazardous materialsbasically paral Directly leling the Santa Monica Freeway (Figure 2) . adjacent to this "hazardous corridor," there exists a high concentration of population under age 5 and over For reasons discussed in detail age 65 (Figure 3) . elsewhere (Perry 1985), all three of these groups may very well require special attention and assistance should an incident involving the unintentional release of hazardous materials into the local environment occur. The distribution of institutions in Santa Monica To determine which of these is depicted in Figure 4. institutions are at risk, the spatial operators exist ing with MAP were used to create an "at risk" buffer For zone should a hazardous material incident occur. the purpose of illustration here, we assumed that an area within 500 m of the hazard materials site would be We then superimposed on this map seven at risk. categories of institutions which can be found in Santa As Figure 5 shows, many of the Monica (Figure 4) . institutions lie within the "at risk" zone as it is Of partic defined for the purpose of this analysis. ular note is the significant number of schools (S) and hospitals (H) which lie immediately adjacent to sites which either produce, store, or use hazardous materi als .
CONCLUSION

In this paper we have attempted to demonstrate the utility of the Map Analysis Package in the identifica tion of community vulnerability. Our analysis revealed that in Santa Monica both the resident population (mainly Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians) and the institu tions (especially schools and hospitals) along the freeway are most vulnerable to the risks of hazardous Based on these results, local materials incidents. emergency planners can take several steps to (1) minimize the probability of such incidents and (2) reduce substantially the risks to public health and These safety in the event of such an accident. include: (1) Conduct periodic inspection of local busi nesses to insure that hazardous materials are being handled safely.

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(2)

Design public education programs which inform the population at risk of not only the potential hazards that exist in their vicini ty, but also of the range of protective actions possible in the event of an accident. Develop emergency response plans to evacuate both the resident and institutional popula tion from the "high risk" corridor along the freeway. Identify host facilities which could serve as emergency relocation centers for both the resident and institutional population.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

(3)

(4)

The authors wish to thank Robine Lewis for her computer assistance on the project and the UCLA Aca demic Senate for financial support.
REFERENCES

Diamond, S. "U.S. Toxic Mishaps in Chemicals Put at 6928 in Five Years," New York Times, October 3, 1985, p. 3. Hohenesmer, C. and J.X. Kasperson (eds) Risk in Techno logical Society, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1982. Hohenesmer, C., R. Kates, and P. Slovic, "The Nature of Technological Hazard," Science, April 22, 1983, pp. 378-384. Johnson, J.H.,Jr. and D.J. Zeigler, "Evacuation Plan ning for Technological Hazards: An Emerging Impera tive," Cities, Vol, 3, 1986, pp. 148-156. Perry, R.W. Comprehensive Emergency Management; Evacuating Threatened Populations. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1985. Tierney, K.J. A Primer for Preparedness for Acute Chemical Emergencies, Disaster Research Center, Ohio State University, 1980. /U.S. Department of Transportation, Hazardous Materials Transportation D.C., 1984. Annual Report on 1983, Washington,

U.S. Department of Transportation, Annual Report on Pipeline Safety Calendar Year 1982, Washington, D.C., 1984. Zeigler, D.J., J.H. Johnson, Jr. and S.D. Brunn, Technological Hazards. Resource Publications in Geogra phy. Washington, D.C.: Association of American Geogra phers .

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