Evaluation and zoning of the vulnerability of Khalkhal City against the environmental hazard of earthquake

Earthquake, as one of the natural hazards, causes irreparable damage to humans and the environment, and assessing the vulnerability of an earthquake is an important step in planning, preventing, and reducing the damage caused by it. Khalkhal City has a high potential for earthquake occurrence due to the existence of many faults and seismic points. However, despite the importance of the subject, the evaluation and zoning of Khalkhal city's vulnerability to earthquakes has not been investigated yet. Based on this, the current research seeks to evaluate the vulnerability of this city against the risk of earthquakes. For this purpose, first, the effective parameters were identified by examining the resources and paying attention to the environmental conditions of the city. Then, the standardization of the layers was done using the fuzzy membership function and the weighting of the criteria using the CRITIC method. Finally, using the MARCOS multi-criteria analysis method, a five-level vulnerability map was prepared. The results of the study showed that the factors of distance from the fault, land use, and distance from the epicenter, respectively; With the weighting coefficient of 0.133, 0.120, and 0.113, have the greatest impact on the occurrence of earthquakes in the region. In addition, according to the results of the research, 24.53 and 15.83 percent of the city's area has a high and very high vulnerability potential. Also, based on the findings of the research, the cities of Kolur and Hashtjin, along with 28 villages of the city, have a high vulnerability potential, and Khalkhal city and 42 villages of the city are also in the zone of high vulnerability. Therefore, to reduce potential risks, appropriate planning should be done in vulnerable areas. In addition, according to the results, the accuracy of the MARCOS method is excellent in evaluating the vulnerability of Khalkhal City against earthquakes, with the level under the curve (0.86).