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Vulnerability is an assessment of the degree of protection you enjoy against possible hazards. It is important to understand that vulnerability exists at macro and micro levels and that it is not uniform. For example, a town predominantly located on low lying land in the flood plain of a river is obviously vulnerable to the hazard of flooding at some level. The entire town may be assessed as highly vulnerable, a macro vulnerability. However, some of the residents of the town live atop the high bluffs to the west of the main business district – 60 feet above the river flood stage. If flood waters get that high the entire state will be living in boats. The residents of the high ground are not vulnerable (at any realistic level) – an assessment of a micro vulnerability within the larger community.