Assessing the Vulnerability of Rural Settlements to Drought Using Coopras Model (Case sStudy: Darab Township)

Drought is one of the most complex and unknown natural disasters that causes irreparable economic, social and environmental damages to rural settlements. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the vulnerability of rural settlements to drought using the Coopras model in the villages located in the drought areas of Darab township. First, the drought areas of the township were determined using the rainfall statistics of 10 rain gauge stations based on the SPI (Standardized precipitation Index) model. Then, using Shannon's entropy model, 19 vulnerability variables were investigated in drought zones. Finally, using the multi-criteria decision-making model of Coopras, the ranking of the villages located in the study area was done. The results show that drought has had the greatest impact on the variables of destruction of surface and underground water sources, reduction of per capita income of farmers, abandonment of agricultural lands due to drought and migration of villagers. The results related to the ranking of the villages affected by drought show that the villages of Daulat-Abad, Darnganeh, Shahrak-Bostan and Bahadoran were the most vulnerable to the phenomenon of drought and the villages of Tal-Bargah, Junan, Nasravan and Qala Naw were less vulnerable than the surrounding villages.