Vulnerability has been variously defined as the threat of exposure, the capacity to suffer harm, and the degree to which different social groups are at risk (Cutter 1996). Perhaps equally important is the notion that vulnerability varies by location (or space) and over time - it has both temporal and spatial dimensions. There are many types of vulnerability of interest to the hazards community, but three are the most important: individual, social, and biophysical. Individual vulnerability is the susceptibility of a person or structure to potential harm from hazards. social vulnerability describes the demographic characteristics of social groups that make them more or less susceptible to the adverse impacts of hazards. Social vulnerability suggests that people have created their own vulnerability, largely through their own decisions and actions. Biophysical vulnerability examines the distribution of hazardous conditions arising from a variety of initiating events such as natural hazards chemical contaminants, or industrial accidents. (Hill and Cutter 2001, 14-15)