Open source approach tools for Risk Analysis and Vulnerability Assessments

Focus groups on vulnerability assessments provide nuanced qualitative insights on local priorities but their results are rarely transferable between communities with similar needs because local environmental data sources and models are hard to identify by non-experts.

As a consequence, risks assessments tools that quantify all-hazard consequences, vulnerabilities, and risk require considerable technical expertise and their use remains inaccessible for small communities and businesses.

Open source tools that facilitate access to on-line information sources and numerical models of natural hazards can bridge some of the existing difficulties and some new information technologies presently in use by large corporations and major research groups are discussed.