Urban Vulnerability Assessment Using AHP

Abstract

Purpose. Physical expansion of urban areas and cities is of great importance nowadays. Irreparable damages will thus be caused by lack of proper planning against natural disasters. Crisis management will therefore guide through prevention, preparedness, disaster relief, and recovery by planning an appropriate program. Methodology. Principal processes of crisis management against earthquake in Iran were evaluated and discussed. Multicriteria earthquake crisis management was then proposed by means of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Vulnerability of 19 urban areas in Qazvin city was studied and analyzed as a case study. Three main criteria were considered as physical dimensions and physical vulnerability texture, the amount of urban texture responsibility to aid after crisis, and possibility of city reversibility after the crisis.These criteria were divided into 20 subcriteria which were prioritized by a questionnaire survey. Findings. High population density, urban texture of old and repairable buildings, lack of relief and medical services, a few organic texture areas, sidewalks with less than 6 meters width in the region, and lack of open spaces in the area were concluded to be the most important reasons causing high vulnerability of urban texture in Qazvin city.