Earthquake Disaster Management in Rural Settlements of Sarvabad County

This paper aims to identify secure, risk free domains and extents in Sarvabad with particular emphasis upon disaster management considerations. This study has both analytical and applied nature. Data analysis demands the application of Gis and AHP. This leads to creation of corresponding layers and final combined overlay risk maps for the evaluation of the relevant factors. consequently; spatial analysis was done upon synthesis maps in order to identify the secure, risk free domains in the study area. This study suggests that around 50 % of the county’s area that accommodates 45 villages and houses more than 53.5 %of the population located in high-risk zones. Moreover, 38% of the county’s area with 25 villages and 32.3% of the population is associated with medium level of seismic risk. However, 13% of the area along with 14.2% of the population pertaining to seven villages is situated in risk free zone. This zone is associated with high population density. This supports this hypothesis that there exists a significant relationship between population density and seismic risk.