Socio-economic Restructuring and Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards in Bulgaria

The restructuring of Bulgaria's social, economic and political system includes a change in the way it handles disaster preparation and response. During the Cold War, the entire country drilled regularly in civil defense, which was under the control of the army. A recent decree and pending leislation transfers civil defense from the military to the Council of Ministers, which has developed a national plan for defense against environmental hazards. This research shows that the transformation from command to market economy, plus the country's severe economic crisis, is degrading existing civil defense structures, preventing the implementation of the proposed new organization and increasing the population's vulnerability to hazards. Case studies of a small city, a petrochemical complex, coastal-zone hazards management, earthquake hazards regulation and the Kozloduy nuclear facility demonstrate Bulgaria's increasing vulnerability to environmental hazards.