The Application of Seismic Risk Analysis in Regional Crisis Management by Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (Case study: Abadeh, Iran)

Earthquakes are one of the most important natural dangers that have a great impact on the activity of human beings in the world. One of the most important actions in order to earthquake risk management is to recognize vulnerable areas. The studies in Iran, especially at the regional level, the analysis are more focused on seismic risk and seismic risk analysis is less considered. In the seismic risk analysis, the main objective is to understand the extent of the impact of earthquake hazard on human and human activities. In this study, the main goal is to provide a suitable and effective method for seismic risk analysis in metropolitan areas (areas) by using Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
The used method for this study is a descriptive-analytical method. Therefore, seismic resources identified by using geological maps, satellite imagery, etc., and then the seismic hazard analysis in studied are has been done by using determinative method. In the second phase, after identification of vulnerable zones against earthquake, overlap the risk layer and settlement layers, population rate as well as regional plans suggested to load population and activity, and in the last phase seismic risk analysis was carried out.
Findings: The findings of this study may consider in two parts. In the first part, seismic risk analysis of the studied area is based on the aspect of the settlements and their population, so the findings of the research in this section indicate that the rate of vulnerability considering both number of settlements and population is moderate. In the second part, seismic risk analysis based on suggested regional plans (the population and activity loading) aspect considered, it shows that suggested regional plans to population and activity loading is performed without considering regional seismic risk.
The results of this study indicates that in the studied area, despite the distribution of population and settlements with average risk area, due to the low resistance of residential units, improvement and retrofit policies should be prioritized. In the meantime, the proposed regional plan for seismic risk analysis is not appropriate and requires revision. This study demonstrates the high capability of GIS in seismic risk analysis in spatial levels beyond the city, which can serve as an effective tool for regional planning and research projects in Iran, Which is one of the most vulnerable countries in this field.