Assessment of areas vulnerable to natural hazards: A Case study on Rural areas of Azna County, Iran

Rural areas, usually when compared to other natural events, have the greatest vulnerability of human settlements. The aim of this study was to evaluate natural hazards as earthquakes, landslides, floods and identify high-risk zone in relation to the rural areas of the central township of Azna County, Iran. Topographic and geology maps, elevation digital model, and seismic and meteorological data along with field studies to investigate the location of villages in terms of natural hazards of earthquakes, landslides, and flood were used. Then, effective factors were identified in each of the hazards, and grouped in separate layers. The Arc GIS software was used to develop and integrate maps; AHP model and paired comparison method were used to weight effective factors in expecting any of the natural hazards, and to compare the criteria one by one; fuzzy logic model was used to standardize the layers in Arc GIS software; and the overlay model index was used to integrate final layers of natural hazards and determine high-risk zones. 49 percent of villages in privacy due to the major and minor faults were in the zone of high earthquake risk. The risk of landslides in areas where rural areas were based, due to the low gradient very low and only 10% of the villages are at risk of landslides. 14% of the villages in the privacy due to the major rivers, flood risk and the risk of flooding is very high. Prioritization of rural areas in terms of natural hazards by using AHP model shows that the 8 villages were located in high-risk areas. Providing maps of potential natural hazards can be helpful in crisis management and identification of the high-risk settlements.