Social Vulnerability to Pluvial Floods in Three Rural Mayan Communities of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Abstract

Floods are one of the most recurrent disasters in the world, with rural communities usually suffering the higher damage due to their living conditions. However, studies of social vulnerability to floods in these en-vironments are scarce. For this reason, the objective of this study was to determine what factors influence social vulnerability levels to pluvial floods in the rural Mayan communities of Naranjal Poniente, Santa Ma-ría Poniente, and Chan Santa Cruz through the application of a quantita-tive instrument (survey), consisting of four dimensions of analysis (GH=generalities of the home; HI=housing infrastructure; MCT=means of communication/transport, and PF=perception of floods) using the non-probabilistic method for convenience (social sector directly affected by the floods). The results showed that the three communities studied have a high level of social vulnerability in general, with the MCT, HI, and PF dimensions being conclusive in this social vulnerability due to the lack of means of communication and transportation, homes with fragile roofs and walls, in addition of the perception of a poor capacity to deal with floods on the part of family heads, despite the notion of danger. These results provide relevant information to authorities and community repre-sentatives to identify areas of opportunity that can reduce social vulnera-bility to floods.