Journal of Spatial Analysis

In advance crisis management of natural disasters, particularly earthquakes in urban areas is one of the necessities of urban planning. However, nowadays with the help of technology we can determine the risk of crisis in the urban areas and settlements. Due to population growth and increasing urbanization, the occurrence of natural disasters such as earthquake can cause terrible disasters in the cities. The need to reduce the vulnerability of the cities is one of the main objectives of physical planning of urban areas and city designing. The city of Kashmar in one of Iran's earthquake-prone areas (due to its adjacency to the Lut fault)  has  witnessed the sever destruction from  the September 25, 1903 earthquake (with a magnitude MS= 5/9) and Torbat Haidariye earthquake on 25 May 1923 (a magnitude MS= 5/8). It is very important to identifying vulnerable areas to earthquakes in advance. Accordingly the objective of this study is to identify the vulnerability of urban areas of  Kashmar city to the earthquake by using VIKOR model of urban planning. The vulnerability of the city was computed on several parameters among which the population density is the most important one.

     In order to carry out the research eleven population and other indices were used. These indices are as follows:

1. Building Materials;
2.  The quality of the building;
3. Old buildings;
4. Number of floors;
5. The materials of facades of building;
6. Compatibility of land uses;
7. Access to network passages;
8. Distance from the main fault;
9. The building density;
10. Numbers of population; and
11.   Relief and rescue centers.

 By using the VIKOR ranking model the vulnerability of the urban areas of the city was identified and classified. The correlation between the city vulnerability and each of these indices was calculated. The impact of the indices on the city vulnerability was calculated according to the AHP model.

      The results of the study showed that the zone 3 had the highest and the zone 8 had the lowest physical vulnerability in the model. Based on the results of the Spearman correlation, the impact of the population on the vulnerability was about .5866 which is relatively noteworthy.  This means that highest degree of vulnerability can occur in very populated areas of the city. All of the city was regionalized according to the degree of vulnerability to earthquake.

The lack of amenities and facilities such as health centers, fire stations, building materials and weak areas within the city will increase the losses and casualties. It is noteworthy that comprehensive city planning in the future must improve and the needed facilities should be provided. In addition providing services to the residents, especially in critical times after the earthquake should be provided.

One of the geomorphologic issues that many human activities affect is the landslides. Natural factors and human activities on the other hand, these events are triggered. Landslide one of the most active hazards are natural processes that lead to erosion and changes in the landscape. Iran is a predominantly mountainous topography, seismic activity and high landslide, diverse climatic and geological conditions of natural conditions for a wide range of slip is important. Located in second place in the sector of industry, population of 1695094 people, proximity to major faults of Tabriz and occurrence Landslides of different city of Tabriz, the city has become one of the most dangerous cities in the environmental hazards, especially landslide. In these circumstances and completed a comprehensive review and a detailed zoning of land for landslide susceptibility seems absolutely necessary. The purpose of the present paper, the occurrence of landslide susceptibility assessment and mapping potential occurrence of landslides in the city of Tabriz in this range.

     This research of the type applied- development research and of the research method is descriptive - analytic. In this study, using a variety of sources including satellite imagery, aerial photography, global positioning system (GPS) and field studies landslide occurred in the study area were identified and these data were analyzed using the software ILWIS and use of library studies and expert opinions should identify the criteria and sub-criteria and range were classified. Then, using fuzzy TOPSIS model, the importance of the criteria and sub-criteria specified in pixel units and finally combining fuzzy-TOPSIS model and overlapping functions in ARC / GIS final map was extracted.

Geomorphologic and lithology conditions of the city with its mountainous location where the trigger landslides. The final results indicate that over 30% of the areas of the city of Tabriz are medium to high risk that this areas of land in the north and northeast is sparse. The accuracy of the final map and the map of the distribution of faults and the accuracy of the study proved to be that hazardous zones roughly corresponding to the final map lapses occurred. So we can conclude that the method and the model presented in this paper is an effective method for landslide hazard zonation within the cities.

     Environment, development and sustainability are the three significant issues of worldwide concern. Environmental vulnerability and assessment of natural and anthropogenic activities impacts represent a comprehensive evaluation approach. The main purpose of this study is to present a comprehensive and novel framework in order to environmental vulnerability assessment using by spatial data and techniques. The method of this research is analytical-descriptive. The basic premise is that the finding of this study can be applied in the local planning system and policy making process of environmental conservation particularly to cope with rapid environmental change. The environmental vulnerability is defined and governed by four factors: hydro-meteorology signatures, environmental attributes, human activities and natural hazard. Based on data availability and vulnerability status of different areas, there is no general rule for selecting how many variables are required to assess the environmental vulnerability. In this study, 18 variables were taken into account and organized into four aforementioned groups.  The process of environmental vulnerability index is proposed to integrate AHP approach, remote sensing indices and GIS techniques. The environmental vulnerability showed distinct spatial distribution in the study area. Furthermore, the distribution of heavy and very heavy vulnerability patterns mainly occur in low and medium lands where the human activities have been developing rapidly and is the nearest region to Urmia lake in the west region.