Tracking death: natural hazard mortality map helps emergency management.(OUTLIER)

Emergency response workers and contingency planning experts have an important aid when it comes to creating policy for natural events. University of South Carolina geographers Susan Cutter and Kevin Borden used nationwide data dating back to 1970 to create a map of natural hazard mortality in the United States. The map presents a county-level representation of the likelihood of dying as a result of natural events.

In the interest of planning and policy, said Cutter, the map works to enable research decision makers to examine hazard deaths through a geographic lens, state by state.

"Using this as a tool to identify areas with higher-than-average deaths can justify allocation of resources to these areas with the goal of reducing loss of life," said Cutter.

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As shown on the map, hazard mortality is most prominent in the South, where most people are killed by severe weather including tornadoes. Heat and drought ranked highest among the hazard categories, causing 19.6 percent of total deaths. Geophysical events such as earthquakes, wildfires and hurricanes were responsible for less than 5 percent of total hazard deaths combined.

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