Evaluating earthquake vulnerability with the help of fuzzy logic and GIS (Case study: Tehran, District 16)

Earthquake as a natural disaster can damage the lives of numerous people all over the world every year. It can also impose huge economical burden on societies. Even though earthquake may be unpredictable, proper planning can significantly reduce the damages. A viable remedy is to identify the vulnerable regions and equip them such that it reduces the casualties. Fuzzy logic is a theory for an action in uncertain conditions; in particular, it deals with human language and thinking. It is an indication to what degree something belongs to a class. This theory is able to form mathematical view to many concepts and systems that are inaccurate and vague. It also provides a suitable framework for reasoning, deduction and decision making in fuzzy conditions. Nowadays fuzzy systems have been widely used in different fields of science because of its simplicity and efficiency. In this paper, with the use of fuzzy logics, we examine the rate of damage in the sixteenth district of Tehran. For this reason, two reasoning engine namely Sugeno and Mamdani, have been used. The used data are: distance to faults, main roads, support centers, clinics, fire stations, gas stations, timeworn areas and population. The analysis performed in MATLAB fuzzy toolbox and ArcGIS software. Final results of Sugeno and Mamdani reasoning engine were similar and showed that southern parts of this district are more exposed to danger

Keywords:

Earth quake , Fuzzy logic , Inference systems , GIS , Vulnerability