An Assessment Of Integrated Vulnerability To Flood Using GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Approach:A Case Study Of District Shangla;Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Pakistan

Floods are considered one of the world’s most overwhelming hydro meteorological disasters,which cause tremendous environmental and socioeconomic damages in a developing country such as Pakistan.There is mounting facts that the direct economic exponential upward trend caused by flooding abnormality has been evident.Since the 1970 s,the direct or indirect economic losses caused by floods and setbacks to GDP every year.In the 2010 flood almost1/3rd of Pakistan area was inundated and caused huge damages in terms of loss of life,agriculture property,and ecological destruction.Flood is an account among the top in terms of losses among various natural disasters in Pakistan.District Shangla is one of the least developed District in Pakistan which is exposed to several natural hazards.Among various natural hazards,flood is the deadliest hydro meteorological hazard in the region and has brought a serious threat to the lives and property of local residents,and it has brought immeasurable influence on local economic construction and social security,which restricts the steady development of local production and life.The assessment of vulnerability to climate change and extreme events such as floods is important to support risk mitigation and sustainable adaptation strategies.Vulnerability assessment and mapping would provide a clear picture of the ground reality and display the degree to which population;capital,assets,and location are likely to be impacted by the hazard.In this study,we use a GIS-based multi-criteria approach to access detailed flood vulnerability in the District Shangla by incorporating the physical,socioeconomic vulnerabilities,and coping capacity.In the first step,21 essential criteria were chosen under three vulnerability components.To support the AHP,the used criteria were transformed,weighted,and standardized into spatial thematic layers.Then a weighted overlay technique was used to build an individual map of vulnerability components.Finally,the integrated vulnerability map has been generated from the individual maps and spatial dimensions of vulnerability levels have been identified successfully.The results demonstrated that 25% of the western-middle area to the Northern part of the study area comprises high to very high vulnerability because of the proximity to waterways,high precipitation,elevation,and other socioeconomic factors.Although,by integrating the coping capacity,the western-central and Northern parts of the study area comprising from high to very high vulnerability.The coping capacities of the central and eastern areas are higher as compared to the northern and southern parts of the study area because of the numerous flood shelters and health complexes.A qualitative approach from the field validated the results of this study.This study’s outcomes would help disaster managers,decision maker’s and local administration to quantify the spatial vulnerability of flood and establish successful mitigation plans and strategies for flood risk assessment in the study area.