[1] For instance, indicators from the physical sciences can be combined with social, medical and even psychological variables to evaluate potential complications for disaster planning.
One of the participants in the early task forces has also conducted secondary research documenting the evolution of the analytic tool through various stages.
The term and methodology then expanded[2] through medical literature and social work as discussed by Dr. James O'Connell of Boston Healthcare for the Homeless.
A composite vulnerability index grew out of the work of South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), Fiji, and the Expert Group on Vulnerability Indexes[8] affiliated with the United Nations, in response to a call made in the Barbados Plan of Action, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).
[13] By 1997, the term was approved for publication by the staff of the UN Secretary General in the SG's Report on Development of a Vulnerability Index for SIDS.
[18] At a 2008 Capacity Building Seminar at Oxford, the "Climate Vulnerability Index"[1] was presented with an application to the protection of tourist economies, which may be important to small island states and others.
[19] The concept has been extended and applied in dealing with risk from natural hazards and the part that population metrics play in making such a situation into a disaster.