The social vulnerability indicators for Argentina are spread over the themes of population, economy, infrastructure, education,and health. The dataset of Argentina is composed of 57 indicators at level P2 of subnational geographic organization given in 527 subdivision distributed into parishes known in Argentina as: departmentos, partidos and comunas. The chart below explains the percentage of variables in the total dataset under each specific main theme.

Figure 1

The entire 57 indicators were statistically analyzed. In addition to a harmonized dataset, a reduction of the socio-economic indicators into a smaller parsimonious set of variables that best represent social and economic vulnerability cluster analysis was performed. The multi-variable statistical analysis was utilized to provide a statistical basis for the choice of indicators.

Table 1. Argentina variables of social Vulnerability

A correlation analysis was performed on the above variables (table 1). Highly correlated variables (Spearman’s R>0.700) were eliminated from further consideration to avoid subjectively choosing one variable over another for inclusion in subsequent analyses. The correlation analysis is useful in reducing the data to a set of variables that are parsimonious and acceptable to represent the social vulnerability of the Argentinian population.

Table 2. Argentina final variable selection

The social vulnerability scores for Argentina at subnational level reveals the spatial distribution of the socio-economic conditions of the population across the country. The following figures provide the social vulnerability subcomponents obtained for Argentina. For instance, the spatial distribution of the education subcomponent shows low levels of social vulnerability around the Buenos Aires province, this province is characterized for the urban setting and provides good access to education to the population (figure 2A). Likewise, the economic sub-component shows high levels of social vulnerability around Buenos Aires and Santa Fe provinces where Argentina’s economy activity is concentrated (figure 2B). Likewise, the social vulnerability sub-components for health, infrastructure, and vulnerable population (Figure 2 C,D,E) show low levels of social vulnerability around the major urban centers such as, Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Rosario, Santa Fe, etc

Figure 2

(A)	(B)	(C)
(D)	(E)

The five components of social vulnerability (population, economy, education, infrastructure and health) are subsequently aggregated and normalized to produce the final social vulnerability score (Figure 3A). The spatial distribution of the integrated risk for Argentina is obtained from combining the social vulnerability and the risk average annual losses indexes (figure 3B). High integrated risk can be understood as those subnational areas experiencing high seismicity, high physical earthquake risk, and high levels of social vulnerability. In the case of Argentina we can see from the spatial distribution that integrated risk index (figure 3C) is higher at those sub-national parishes in the North West part of the country towards the Andes mountains in the western part of the country. This zone is characterized for experiencing high seismicity and also high levels of social vulnerability. The east and central part of the country around the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, Rosario , La plata, remains in a low social vulnerability and integrated risk area as these can be considered low seismic risk zones.

Figure 3

(A)	(B)	(C)