Identification of Seismic Vulnerability Zones based on Land Use Condition

Abstract

Due to urbanization, the vulnerability is increased in cities and the scale of disaster from earthquake is increased in major cities. Therefore, developing seismic vulnerability map for urbanized cities is very important. Mandalay city is not only one of the most earthquake-prone regions but also the most urbanized and dense population in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. This study examines the seismic vulnerability assessment of Mandalay city based on the land use conditions by utilizing analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Geographic Information System (GIS). The land use data was collected by doing field survey and classified into 20 types of study area regarding to the Myanmar National Building Code (MNBC) and field condition. The importance of each criterion (land use types) are determined by using subjective opinion made by authorized persons from Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC) because the seismic vulnerability levels may be different based on land use conditions. The consistency ratios (CR) are also checked for reliability of weighted criteria. The final seismic vulnerability map is developed by overlapping the weighted land use map with building density and population density map by using aggregation method in GIS. It will be very useful for making a national emergency plan for earthquakes to mitigate the seismic risk due to the future earthquakes.