Investigation of GIS-based Analytical Hierarchy Process for Multi-Criteria Earthquake Risk Assessment: The Case Study of Kahramanmaras Province

Abstract

The risk level that earthquakes pose to the environment depends on different factors. Correctly analyzing the effects of these factors is an important step to identify risky areas before the earthquake. Geographic information systems (GIS) provide essential tools for determining the weights of these factors, analyzing them, and creating risk maps. Two devastating earthquakes occurred in Türkiye in February 2023, centered in Kahramanmaras. In this study, a research was carried out to estimate the damage caused by the earthquake in Kahramanmaras by analyzing pre-earthquake data with GIS. The determined factors are seven: fault line risk zone, epicenter risk zone, depth of the magnitude, slope, curvature, population density and building density. These factors have created different weighting scenarios with the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). As a result of the analyses, risk maps were produced. Evaluations were made by comparing the risk maps produced with DPM. Considering all the factors, these results highlight the importance of considering multiple risk criteria when evaluating the potentiality of damage in the study region.