Prioritization of Districts in terms of Disaster Preparedness Planning: A Case Study for the Expected Istanbul Earthquake

Abstract

Preparedness is the second among the four phases of disaster management after mitigation. In big cities with crowded populations like İstanbul, development of a single holistic disaster preparedness plan would be too complex. At this point, the prioritization of districts is needed because of the existence of a limited amount of available resources (time, staff, money, etc.) plan development stage. This decision can be affected by several factors, so this decision can be defined as a multiple criteria decision-making problem. The main aim in this paper is to develop an analytic approach to obtain the priority rank of districts of the city for disaster preparedness plan development. To do so, a hybrid multiple criteria decision-making model based on SWARA (Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis) and WASPAS (Weight Aggregated Sum Product Assessment) is proposed. A case study on earthquake preparedness planning in districts of İstanbul is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model. Obtained results of the model would be helpful for policy making in volunteer organizations, municipality, and government level.