Health Vulnerability Index in Disaster Preparedness: An Analysis in the Cyclone Prone Blocks of Purba Medinipur, India

The Indian subcontinent has recently seen an increasingly high incidence of natural disasters, mainly cyclones resulting in loss of lives and property and damage to livelihood. Risk is defined by the negative effects of interactions between exposure, hazards, and vulnerable situations. The majority of the existing vulnerability indices emphasize social and economic vulnerability and often exclude the significance of health vulnerability. The study aims to compute a Health Vulnerability Index (HVI) in the research area of five cyclone-prone community development blocks in the Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal, India: Ramnagar-I, Ramnagar-II, Contai-I, Deshapran, and Khejuri-II. A three-phase methodology was used to develop the final disaster risk model. Phase 1: extensive literature review and identification of the relevant indicators: vulnerable population, disabled population, under-five mortality rate, unmet bed demand, unmet doctor demand, poor households, incidence of tuberculosis, vaccination gap, and measles vaccination gap, Phase 2: a two-stage dimension reduction statistical method to identify the weighing of the indicators, Phase 3: creates the final disaster risk by Risk = Exposure × Hazard × Vulnerability. Khejuri-II has the highest index of health vulnerability, which coupled with poor infrastructural facilities results in a high corresponding risk. Ramnagar-I being a hotbed of tourism and economic activities in the area poses the lowest HVI and hence the lowest risk. This proposed index which provides a judicious reflection of health vulnerability may serve as a policy and implementation tool to facilitate capacity building to improve resilience in the cyclone-affected areas.