According to the Global Climate Risk Index, Bangladesh with its densely populated coastal areas is considered as one of the most vulnerable countries affected by climate change in the world. In this context, the goal of this research is to assess the social vulnerability of the south-western coastal communities of the country,which is becoming more vulnerable, trying to understand the underlying social conditions of coastal people who are dependent on limited natural resources. To do so, vulnerability indicators of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity are analyzed using quantitative data collected from different sample areas and focus group discussions (FGD) were held with the local women in two study areas. The results show that a community in the area have close dependency on natural resources such as water, mangrove forest and also has a limited set of livelihood options. Also many households, above the traditional fishing and agriculture, have no secondary occupation or alternative livelihood options. Therefore, unpredictable seasonal patterns on the sea and land would threat livelihood and mainly their food security. Considering that the coastal areas have potential opportunities for nation’s sustainable development, assessing on social vulnerability to climate change will help to create regulation and awareness programs in order to minimize vulnerabilities.

Natural hazards are the reality of today&amp / #8217 / s world, which considerably affect people&amp / #8217 / s living conditions. As they cannot be prevented, the basic precautions should be taken before the occurrence to protect people. At this point, the preparedness for any threat is really important, which does decrease destructive effects of the hazard for communities and shorten recovery interventions. In terms of preparedness, identification of vulnerable people in the community gives an important contribution for better planning in disaster management. In this respect, this thesis aims to develop a methodology in order to define vulnerable groups in terms of their social conditions for any possible hazard, with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. Moreover, the thesis aims to find out an interrelation between hazards and vulnerability, to build awareness about identification of socially vulnerable groups in the pre- and post-disaster planning. A case study area is selected in earthquake-prone Pendik, Istanbul, in order to find the contribution of the assessment. A study is carried out to describe social vulnerability levels in the study area using GIS. Criterion standardization, weighting and combining are accomplished by multi criteria evaluation methods. These calculations are supported with five explorative spatial data analyses to understand global trends and spatial interactions of the study data. The objectivity of the assessment and the complicated structure of the study data are also discussed. The main outcomes of the methodology and its applications in the case study area show that, the southeast part of Pendik is socially vulnerable to any possible hazard.