Climate change is a present-day problem, making areas previously unaffected by natural hazards now vulnerable to disasters. Building resilient cities involves ensuring effective disaster response, which includes providing safe and accessible evacuation centers (ECs). This study evaluates the suitability of ECs in Zamboanga City, Philippines, by assessing their safety and accessibility. Using QGIS, the exposure of ECs to various natural hazards was analyzed. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to determine the weights for each criterion. Results revealed that most of the ECs are moderately suitable in terms of safety, with a few highly suitable. However, accessibility ratings varied, highlighting the need for improvements in infrastructure in certain areas. The study emphasizes the reality that not all safe ECs are accessible, and not all accessible ECs are safe.
Authors
Mary Joanne C. Aniñon
Civil Engineering Department, De La Salle University, Manila 1004, Philippines
Author
Andres Winston C. Oreta
Civil Engineering Department, De La Salle University, Manila 1004, Philippines
Author
DOI: https://doi.org/10.66050/xmwvws10
Keywords: site suitability, evacuation center, natural hazard, safety, Zamboanga, GIS, AHP
https://internationaljournalofdisasterriskmanagement.com/index.php/Vol1/article/view/170
