Capturing Damage Assessment with a Spatial Video: An Example of a Building and Street-Scale Analysis of Tornado-Related Mortality in Joplin, Missouri, 2011

To reduce the potential loss of life during future significant tornadoes, it is important to understand building and street-scale patterns of damage and mortality from past events. To achieve this, methods of posttornado data collection and damage classification should be rethought. This article addresses these needs through the use of a spatial video and a new Tornado Injury Scale, which has evolved from the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Building damage for Joplin, Missouri, collected three weeks after the May 2011 tornado, is analyzed using a filtering approach more commonly employed in epidemiological studies. Tornado-related fatalities are linked to damage rate maps constructed at two relatively fine scales. Mortality patterns are also investigated with regard to social vulnerability, especially the disproportionate burden faced by the elderly. Results reveal fine-scale damage patterns even within the main tornado path, often with variations occurring along the same street segment. In Joplin the number of elderly fatalities was significantly higher than for other cohorts. This finding is consistent within neighborhoods and not just as a result of single-site losses, as has been found in other disasters. Spatial video footage is also reinvestigated after the analysis for damage trends by building type and physical setting, with a summary of these observations provided in the discussion. This article is a contribution to understanding the fine spatial scale variation of built environment fragility within a tornado path.