Investigating the Urban Vulnerability against Earthquake Using Mihwp Model-Case Study: 10th Zone of Tabriz

Considering high construction and population density, unstable structures, narrow streets, and high rate of inclusion in cities, it is necessary to plan and carry out researches to minimize vulnerabilities caused by natural events. To accomplish this, one of the important efforts can be identifying effective factors in reducing vulnerabilities of cities against earthquake. Recognizing and investigating the vulnerability of urban areas, particularly within the context of the old fabrics and informal settlements, is of great importance. By specifying vulnerable areas against earthquakes, with an awareness of the damage they may suffer, cities can be planned and designed in a way that the least damage during an earthquake is received. In this paper, by picking several indicators such as land use, street width, number of floors, rate of inclusion, population density, fabric segmentation, occupied space, floor-area ratio of buildings, built quality, structure type, building age, access to open spaces and distance to the main seismic belt and by employing the MIHWP model along with the capabilities of the Arc GIS software and by multiplying and overlaying the data layers of indexed indicators, the seismic vulnerability of the region 10 of Tabriz has been represented. The results conclude that the buildings with low width streets, high number of floors and high value of enclosure, less lot areas, high occupied space and building and population density, low built quality, unstable structures, old buildings, more distance to open space and proximity to major seismic belts, have been rated as high vulnerable areas. Within the region, moving from the North West to the center and North East, vulnerability considerably increases