components is viewed as having an equal contribution (i.e. balanced
weight) to a community’s overall vulnerability (Sullivan
et al., 2002). There are four steps in calculating each LVI. Step 1 involves
transforming the raw data into appropriate measurement
units, such as percentages, ratios and indices (see ‘‘Units’’ in Table
2). Step 2 is the standardization of each sub-component since
they are measured on different scales. This is necessary in order
to combine all measures in a single LVI index. To standardize a
main component, the quotient of the difference between the actual
score and the minimum value obtained from the total sample (i.e.
both communities) and the difference between the maximum and
minimum values from the total sample was calculated. In Step 3,
the average of the standardized scores of each main component
is calculated, giving a final score for each main component. For
example, the average of the scores for sub-components – ‘‘average
receive: give ratio’’, ‘‘average borrow: lend ratio’’ and ‘‘% households
that have not gone to government for assistance in
12 months’’ gives the score for the major component, ‘‘Social Networks’’.
Lastly, Step 4 combines the weighted averages of all the
major components to generate the LVI score. The weights of each
main component are determined by the number of indicators of
which it is comprised. This ensures that all main components contribute
equally to the overall LVI (Sullivan et al., 2002). The LVI is
scaled from 0 (least vulnerable) to 0.5 (most vulnerable).