Study of social vulnerability in earthquake disaster management in the previous step to achieve the sustainable management (Case study: Zanjan- Iran)

Crisis reduction and sustainable management require recognition and analysis of the nature of the vulnerability of societies and places against natural hazards such as earthquake. Decision-making is very important in times of disaster and critical situation. Therefore, in this paper social vulnerability of Zanjan City in the face of earthquake will be considered in order to achieve crisis management process and sustainable management by using spatial decision support system. Zanjan as a province of northwestern Iran is located on two main fault; Soltanieh and Tabriz. Based on the geological map, it is known as Iran’s earthquake-prone areas. The research methodology is a descriptive analytical study and system components used in this study included database (GIS), spatial analytical model (model of social vulnerability) and decision- making model (quantitative strategic planning matrix). Social Vulnerability factors in this paper consists of four main criteria of population, dwelling, socialeconomical concept, access to welfares and twenty eight sub-criteria. They are classified by using the analytical hierarchy process based on their importance. In addition, Zanjan social vulnerability is evaluated in the face of earthquake by taking advantage of the features and performance of geographic information system (GIS). Finally, vulnerable areas and places are presented in map that indicates 40 percent of Zanjan area is identified in high social vulnerability in the face of earthquake these areas include worn out texture of Islam Abad and Kooye Farhang in district three, Bisim located in district five, sabze Meydan and Davood gholi in district one and two. In the next step, decision-making matrix is used to prioritize strategies and implementing strategies in areas with high vulnerability. Using SDSS in Zanjan disaster management shows that the speed of decision-making will be increased in crisis and the possibility of errors in decision –making will also be reduced significantly.

Keywords:

Earthquake , Social Vulnerability , Disaster management , Spatial decision support system , Sustainable management