Locating temporary accommodation and crisis management sites in Semnan city with multivariate evaluation method

A suitable place for temporary accommodation after an earthquake is one of the main challenges of crisis management, especially in developing countries. Therefore, it is necessary to create location plans for the homeless population before the incident of earthquake. The purpose of this article was to identify and rank suitable places for temporary accommodation among green spaces, barren spaces and sports spaces in Semnan city by knowing the features of location for temporary accommodation.

This research is a part of applied research. It is descriptive-analytical research from the data collection point of view, and is hybrid research from the data type point of view. In this research, using the last updated comprehensive plan of Semnan city in 2014, and the expert elicitations was used to analyze the indicators through using the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method. The AHP has been conducted using Expert choice software. Arc GIS10 software has been used to determine and prioritize the best options for creating temporary housing in Semnan against earthquake event.

In this research, 12 main criteria have been selected to choose the best option for creating temporary accommodation places during the earthquake in Semnan city. The location process has been done in the form of 3 functional areas of the city, including public green spaces, barren lands, and sports centers as population settlement areas. Based on this, the location of temporary accommodation of 32 points has been evaluated and prioritized.

According to the results, Semnan city has been ranked into 6 operational areas and the facilities have been divided into three levels: main, temporary (local) and backup. The main sites are the most essential sites in grad 1 crisis events. The temporary sites are useful in all types of crises (1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade). Meanwhile, the supportive sites in the next stage should accommodate the population of their surrounding area and at the same time join the crisis management in the local headquarters.