Evaluating the Vulnerability of the City of Jiroft Against Flood and Providing Protective Solutions

Abstract

According to UN reports, floods and storms have caused more damages to human settlements than any other natural disasters. Reducing the damages caused by flood became one of the major goals of urban development planning. Jiroft is located in the interconnection of three rivers named Halil, Shur, and Malanti, thus annually, flood causes considerable financial damages to this city. The aim of this study is to prioritize the districts of Jiroft to help managing flood. This research is descriptive-analytic and data were gathered using field and organizational statistics approach. The participants in this study included the natural sources experts, the city planners, and the offices related to crisis management in Jiroft. This sample involves 53 experts and agents. Data were analyzed using WASPAS and WP models. Results showed that the districts are vulnerable because they were developed physically and haphazardly near the rivers. WP model which analyzed quantitative data of the damages caused in districts resulted that the near parts of Halil river, Sarjaz district, and middle districts of Malenti had the most vulnerability in the last three decades. Although WASPAS model results indicated that districts near Halil river and middle districts of the city near Malenti and Shur rivers were the most vulnerable to floods, therefore it is necessary to be the most priority in planning. However, a part of the city that is located near middle sections of Malenti river, Sarjaz district, and districts near Shur river were ranked in 4th to 6th levels of vulnerability. Appropriate protection strategy for controlling the negative impacts of floods in Jiroft requires a combination of structural measures, urban land use and management of upstream utility.

Keywords

• natural disasters
• floods
• environmental planning
• waspas model
• wp model
• jiroft