Temporary site selection and decision-making methods: a case study of Tehran, Iran.

Area of Science:

• Disaster Management
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM)

Background:

• Traditional temporary shelter site selection is often time-constrained and lacks systematic methodology.
• Complex disaster management decisions necessitate structured approaches like MADM.
• Pre-disaster planning for temporary shelters is crucial for effective emergency response.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a systematic model for pre-earthquake temporary shelter site selection.
• To integrate Geographical Information System (GIS) with Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) for earthquake damage assessment.
• To identify and rank suitable zones for temporary shelters in a specific urban area.

Main Methods:

• Determining effective criteria for temporary shelter site selection.
• Preparing geographical layers for selected criteria within Municipal District No.1 of Greater Tehran.
• Applying various MADM methods to rank 14 initially proposed zones based on earthquake damage assessment.
• Calculating the mean of aggregated ranking results.

Main Results:

• 14 potential zones were initially identified for temporary shelters based on defined criteria and required area (415-610 hectares).
• Various MADM techniques were employed to systematically evaluate and rank these zones.
• The study successfully ranked 10 out of the 14 proposed zones, providing a prioritized list for shelter allocation.

Conclusions:

• The proposed GIS and MADM-based model offers a systematic and appropriate method for pre-earthquake temporary shelter site selection.
• This approach enhances disaster preparedness by providing a data-driven framework for identifying optimal shelter locations.
• The model's application in Tehran demonstrates its feasibility and effectiveness in complex urban disaster management scenarios.