Zoning the Vulnerability of Nahavand Settlements to Earthquakes

Recent studies on the catastrophic consequences and widespread human and financial losses caused by natural disasters, especially earthquakes, show that no effective measures have been taken in this regard. One of the earthquake-prone areas of Hamadan province is Nahavand city, which is also one of the widest plains in the province. In this regard, the present study aims to zone the vulnerability of settlements to earthquakes using FAHP and GIS methods. For this purpose, 14 criteria which are soil texture, magnitude, centers of previous earthquakes, hazardous facilities, main and secondary roads of the region, rivers, geological layers, landslide position, slope, soil erosion, land use, regional faults, digital elevation model and Population points were used. In this regard, a zoning map of the settlement's vulnerability to earthquakes has been prepared for environmental analysis and assessments. According to studies conducted by other researchers around the world, in this study, to overlay the weight of criteria in fuzzy space, the gamma function with initial values of 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9 was used; after validating the results and reviewing their values, a gamma of 0.9 was selected and used in the present study. Results of Nahavand in 5 classes, with very low vulnerability potential in the area of 25065 hectares, relatively low potential in the area of 48173 hectares, medium potential in the area of 39000 hectares, relatively high potential in the area of 25571 hectares, and very high potential in the area of 13980 hectares he does. The results show that 28 villages are in the area with high vulnerability potential and 3 cities and 26 villages are in the area with relatively high vulnerability potential.