Estimation of earthquake vulnerability by using analytical hierarchy process

Abstract

Earthquake is one of the most damaging disasters in Bangladesh and vulnerability assessment is the precondition for evaluating the risk of earthquake. The main goal of this study is to estimate the vulnerability in Chittagong city by using analytical hierarchy process. Several factors have been applied to generate social vulnerability and structural vulnerability. The analytical hierarchy process has been applied for criteria weight estimation, ranking of priorities and to evaluate the alternatives of criterion. A pair-wise comparison is applied at all levels. Finally, the vulnerable zones of Chittagong city have been extracted. The findings through this research reveal that Chittagong city exhibits both social and structural vulnerabilities. In terms of social vulnerability, 21.74% of Chittagong city falls under very high, 33.60% high, 10.27% moderate, 7.78% low and 26.60% is under very low vulnerability areas. Due to the structural vulnerability, 21.75% of the city area is under very high, 29.67% high, 15.90% moderate, 30.80% low and 1.87% is under very low vulnerability zone. The present study of earthquake vulnerability assessment may be fruitful in combating the losses and mitigating the risk.