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 Table of Contents  
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year : 2015  |  Volume : 3  |  Issue : 4  |  Page : 224-230

Define and prioritize the criteria for locating accommodation and relief centers from crisis management point of view using TOPSIS technique (case study: Sabzevar City)


1 PhD Student of Geography and Urban Planning, Shakhes Pajouh Research Institute, Isfahan, Iran
2 Shakhes Pajouh Reserach Institute Chancellor, Isfahan, Iran

Date of Web Publication11-Aug-2015

Correspondence Address:
Mohammadreza Akhavan Abdollahian
Road and Urbanisation, Corner of Khayyam Cross, Khayyam Blvd., Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi Province
Iran
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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/2347-9019.162562

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  Abstract 

Introduction: One of the important issues that cities are constantly facing is man-made disasters or natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires and etc. If cities are not already prepared to deal with the crisis, the dimensions of the damage will be multiplied. In this field, crisis management concept has been formed which is turned to an important issue in the field of city Anatomy. Also, considering this factor in city planning and designing has become a great concern nowadays. One of the important issues that must be met to discuss the crisis management approach is accommodation and relief centers for victims and the injured in order to rehabilitate the victims quickly and prevent the second wave of damage. In this regard, one of the main tasks of urban planners is identifying suitable sites for accommodation and relief centers after events. Aims: This research seeks to identify effective measures to locate the accommodation and relief centers, as well as prioritizing the measures according to the conditions of Sabzevar city as a case study. The aim of this study from the objective perspective, applicatory, and based on the nature, is of the cross-sectional (case) type. Materials and Methods: To collect needed information, library resources were used, as well as a series of reports, documents and published statistics were considered. Results: According to the achieved results, criteria of living next to residential area, proximity to medical centers, vicinity to fire station, convenient access to roads and being far from dangerous urban facilities are the most important factors for locating of accommodation and relief centers. Also, regarding the conditions and characteristics of Sabzevar city, criteria of living next to residential areas and reasonable access to roads are of the highest priority to locate these centers. Conclusion: the accommodation and relief centers should be designed in a way, which in one hand enables them to be close to heavily urban populated areas, and on the other hand, give them a reasonable access to gather the injured and casualties from events.

Keywords: Accommodation and relief centers, crisis management, locating, Sabzevar city, TOPSIS technique


How to cite this article:
Abdollahian MA, Mahmoudzadeh A. Define and prioritize the criteria for locating accommodation and relief centers from crisis management point of view using TOPSIS technique (case study: Sabzevar City). Int J Health Syst Disaster Manage 2015;3:224-30

How to cite this URL:
Abdollahian MA, Mahmoudzadeh A. Define and prioritize the criteria for locating accommodation and relief centers from crisis management point of view using TOPSIS technique (case study: Sabzevar City). Int J Health Syst Disaster Manage [serial online] 2015 [cited 2024 Mar 29];3:224-30. Available from: https://www.ijhsdm.org/text.asp?2015/3/4/224/162562


  Introduction Top


With the rapid increase in world's population, it is observed that every day more and more population is concentrated in urban areas, in such a way that today about half of the world's population live in cities. The forecast for the next 30 years reveals that 2.2 billion people will be added to the inhabitants of the earth and 2.1 billion out of this 2.2 billion will be lived in cities. And also it is expected that 2 billion of this population will be born in the cities of developing countries. [1] City is a complex environment in which all components are organized into close contact with each other so that disorder in any of the components would cause difficulty throughout system and if the required preparation to deal with damage is not reached before, the damage will be multiplied. So that, today, the national strategy to protect critical infrastructures and key assets of nations, involves an important part of crisis management divisions. [2] The accommodation and relief centers must be located in such a way that is able to respond and serve victims to the best after the incident. In this regard, one of the main tasks of urban planners is identifying suitable sites for accommodation and relief centers after crisis. Sabzevar city as one of the important cities of Khorasan Razavi province which has been experienced a rapid development in recent decades due to its location near the borders of the East and having different potentials, needs to be a studied in terms of crisis management. Therefore, this study seeks to identify effective measures to locate accommodation and relief centers, as well as the prioritization of these criteria with regard to the conditions of Sabzevar city.


  Materials and Methods Top


This is an applied research and descriptive-analytical (case based) in terms of nature. Data collection in this research was done through library resources and also a set of published reports, documents, and statistics. Domestic and international sources have been used in the theoretical basis part. In studying the priority indicators in Sabzevar, the case study method was used which is a subset of qualitative methods. [3] The purpose of this study was to identify appropriate and effective indicators to locate accommodation and relief centers. It also was seek to prioritize the criteria with regard to the conditions of Sabzevar city. First, with domestic and international literature review, the important concepts associated with crisis management were investigated and appropriate criteria to locate the accommodation and relief centers have been identified. Second, by reviewing documents and Sabzevar master plan, the identified criteria were prioritized in order of importance for the city.

Theoretical base

Locating the accommodation and relief centers is related to steps of crisis management issues. Crisis management is a planning and performance process by governments, executive organizations, municipalities, public organizations, and nongovernmental organizations in which by observing and analyzing the crisis as an integrated, comprehensive, coordinated, and using existing tools, has been tried to prevent the crisis or if happened, tries to reduce the impacts, providing necessary preparation, response, early relief and improvement till situation becomes normal. [4] Crisis management, with regard to time, is divided into three levels including before, during, and after the crisis. [5] Furthermore, the crisis is divided into the national, regional, provincial, urban, and local levels. [5] Among the most important tasks of crisis management are measures in the context of urban management to get rid of the problems caused by natural disasters, reducing its impacts (prevention) and preparing for relief and recovery. [6] Hence, locating of accommodation and relief facilities can be classified at the urban or local level of crisis management procedure. Prevention and preparation take place before a crisis. During the crisis, intervention, search, and rescue operations are performed. Finally, after the crisis, recovery and reorganization are implemented. [5] Thus, crisis management is a dynamic process in the form of wise actions which is done before the crisis (planning and preparation), during crisis (assistance to the victims and relief), and after crisis (recovery and restoration). [7] Therefore, it can be concluded that the locating of accommodation and relief facilities is of such measures which must be done before the crisis.

The crisis can be classified to the national, regional, provincial, urban, and local level. National crisis is one that dealing with it is beyond the ability of a region or province and requires the mobilization of national forces. Others are considered as regional, provincial, urban, and local crises. These crises are often controlled and organized by local managers. [5] Therefore, the locating of accommodation and relief centers can be classified in the urban or local crisis management level. According to the arguments expressed, conceptual framework of this research is described in [Figure 1].
Figure 1: Conceptual framework of research (Source: Author)

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According to the conceptual framework of research, it can be concluded that the issue of the locating accommodation and relief centers is in connection with the discussion of crisis management. Furthermore, this subject can be classified as before-crisis measures and at the urban level (local) of crisis management.

TOPSIS technique

TOPSIS method was proposed by Hwang and Yoon in 1981. [8] This method is one of the most common and widely applied approaches for multi-criteria decision-making which is based on the distance of choices from the positive and negative ideal solution. [8] Accordingly, the preferred option has the minimum distance from the negative ideal solution. [9] In this method, a decision matrix (numerical values of indexes for options) and weight of indicators are collectively the input data for the system. [10] In this method, m options are assessed by n indexes. Foundation of this technique is based on the concept that the selected option should be in the minimum distance from ideal solution (A*: the best possible case) and has the farthest distance with the negative ideal solution (A: the worst possible case) as depicted in [Figure 2].
Figure 2: Euclidean distances between positive and negative ideal solution

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In this method, it is assumed that the desirability of each index is steadily increasing or decreasing.

The TOPSIS method is expressed in a succession of six steps as follows:

Step 1: Calculate the normalized decision matrix. The normalized value rij is calculated as follows:



Step 2: Calculate the weighted normalized decision matrix. The weighted normalized value vij is calculated as follows:



Where wj is the weight of the jth criterion or attribute and .

Step 3: Determine the ideal (A*) and negative ideal (A ) solutions.





Step 4: Calculate the separation measures using the m-dimensional Euclidean distance. The separation measures of each alternative from the positive ideal solution and the negative ideal solution, respectively, are as follows:





Step 5: Calculate the relative closeness to the ideal solution. The relative closeness of the alternative Ai with respect to A* is defined as follows:



Step 6: Rank the preference order, each option with bigger Ci is better. [11]

Criteria for locating accommodation and relief centers

Approaches that have been adopted during the crisis in the cities consist of two basic approaches; First, encouraging people to stay in city and providing needed facilities to accommodate them safely and second, evacuation and accommodating people in safe places out of city. In the second approach, if the people raid to leave cities, the exit ports will be blocked and also destination cities usually do not have the capacity to respond the sudden increase in population. [12] In fact, managing of the people inside the cities is more suitable with regard to the important point that the necessary measures will be taken before the crisis.

Therefore, due to the benefits of accommodating people in the city, required predictions must be considered and possibly identify the areas with the accommodation capability and designing them with a dual purpose. Open spaces in case of crisis management considerations in its design and planning will have great capability to implement the accommodation and relief center projects. These facilities under normal conditions could be used for leisure, beautify the environment and public services. Furthermore, during crisis, they are factors to reducing vulnerability, and after crisis, they would be spaces to facilitate crisis management. In the development of urban open spaces such as parks and large urban gardens, the first point is locating and planning to design. These spaces in terms of place must be close to vulnerable urban areas, and, on the other hand, have convenient access. [13] Regarding discussed issues about open spaces, one can count the following crisis management applications:

  1. Reducing the buildings density along with population density: The lower population density, the more balanced distributed in the city, and consequently, the less vulnerability. In contrast, the high population density means more casualties and damage in the event of crisis, as well as the loss of more people from falling debris due to closure of roads, reduce the possibility of escape from dangerous situations and access to secure areas and also, the difficulty to save the victims and injured. In general, population density has an indisputable role in relation to the various indicators of welfare, health, education, security, and others. [14]
  2. Providing open spaces to escape and seek refuge in emergency situations: Open spaces are considered as available areas with the possibility of escape and refuge in emergency situations. Thus, the appropriate design of these spaces within the urban textures is one of the most efficient methods to deal with the risk. The usefulness of green and open spaces in the metropolitan areas depends on their frequency, equal distribution in all urban areas, and the continuity of green system. In designing open spaces, we can consider some edges as parapet wall. As an example, longitudinal vases can be used inside open spaces between buildings to create a strong edge which can be used in emergency situations as a parapet wall. [15]
  3. Consideration of a buffer space between vulnerable and dangerous sites: Open spaces play an important role in reducing the level of action and results of most events. These buffer spaces create a distance between applications and consequently prevent the spread of fire and finally cut the chain of events. The performance is achieved by separating the potentially dangerous zones from each other and thereby concentrating the activity of destructive forces and preventing the spread of destruction. [16]
  4. Providing a space for accommodation and treatment of injured individuals: Open spaces that have acceptable facilities and extent can have a leading role in disaster relief, emergency accommodation and treatment of injured, and reducing the physical and financial vulnerability of citizens. With regard to the infrastructure and services required in the implementation of the resettlement and relief program in open spaces, and following the crisis management considerations in locating and design them, a large population can be settled and treats the injured people. [13]


Therefore, locating the accommodation and relief centers is of a considerable importance in the field of crisis management, and it is necessary that appropriate and effective criteria be adopted to locate these centers. The crisis management organization of Iran conducted an applied research and developed a set of parameters and requirements of locating of accommodation and relief centers. In this study, the topics are presented in two main parts : f0 irst, location finding based on the relevant parameters, and second, the evaluation and determining the scores of the parameters. [17] In general, accommodation and relief centers should be located inside the city where the residential application is predominant. This is because the most vulnerable urban application is residential areas and outreach to the citizens in the event of crisis in their homes has priority. [18] Furthermore, it is better for them to be close to medical care centers in order to get the injured people to the hospital at the minimum time to receive services, especially in cases where it requires expertise service. [18] Because of the fire possibility followed by crisis, proximity to the fire station is also important. Therefore, it is necessary for these centers to be in the vicinity of fire stations. [19] Moreover, accessing to roads and pathways is the most important criterion to locate the accommodation and relief centers with respect to the need to evacuate individuals and transfer them in the minimum time. [20] On the other hand, accommodation and relief centers must be remote from urban hazardous facilities and being outside their boundaries is another locating criterion. These hazardous facilities which mainly consist of gas pipelines, electricity lines, and gas stations may explode during crisis. Hence, the mentioned facilities may cause many fire incidents and accidents after a crisis, and they should be far from accommodation and relief centers. [18]

According to performed studies, locating criterion for accommodation and relief centers is shown in [Table 1].
Table 1: Criteria for locating the accommodation and relief centers

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Prioritizing locating criteria for accommodation and relief centers

Khorasan Razavi province is located in the Northeast of Iran and is one of the newest provinces in Iran which is created after the division of the great Khorasan province. Furthermore, the city of Sabzevar is the Westernmost city of this province and included 46 villages in its area of influence. [21] The city is located in the communication path of Mashhad-Tehran and its distance to Mashhad from the newest Road is about 220 km and 664 km to Tehran. [Figure 3] shows the position of Sabzevar city in the country and the province.
Figure 3: Location of Khorasan Razavi province in the country and location of the city of Sabzevar in the province[21]

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Sabzevar has the population of 214,582 people and 57,081 families that are scattered in the space of 3174 hectares. From this area, 895 hectares assigned to the residential area and the number of housing units in 1385 were 53,524 units. [21] Accordingly, the net and gross residential densities were 217 and 61 persons per hectare, and density of individuals and families in housing units was 4.01 and 1.07, respectively. [21] Sabzevar city center neighborhoods have lower density while surrounding neighborhoods have the most density and marginal neighborhoods again have low density. This situation emphasis on misappropriate distribution of city population. The gross density of population is shown in [Figure 4]. These data demonstrate the high population density in surrounding neighborhoods (around the downtown core) which reminds paying special attention to this area in designing accommodation and relief centers. Subsequently, the high-density population in these areas leads to increased vulnerability and losses during the crisis.

Roads and communication networks can be seen as a reflection of the concept of "need to access." In unusual and critical situations, the importance of access is multiplied, since the establishment of optimal access under normal conditions increases desirability and life quality. In critical condition, after the early warning maintain, access and traffic flow in pathways resulted in the continuation of human life, escaping from dangerous situations, and reaching secure areas. In the hierarchy of pathways, high-level roads have the character of transmission and movement; however, low-level roads have the character of accessibility. [21]
Figure 4: Distribution of gross density population of Sabzevar city in 1385[21]

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In Sabzevar city, first-grade pathways are mainly the streets with meta-urban performance (the ring road) and the North-South axis of the city. The most important first-grade arterial pathway in this city is connecting axis of the core of Sabzevar and the new district of Tohid Shahr. The other main pathways of the city which consist of the skeletal form of the Sabzevar are the main second-grade pathways. Although arcs that are known as arterial second grade do not have the same traffic volume and features, generally, they can be put in a same classification of the pathway network. Other pathways that are used to pass traffic are considered as collector and distributor pathways.

[Figure 5] shows the hierarchy of pathways network in Sabzevar city. [21] As can be seen, pathway network within the dense urban texture of Sabzevar is secondary arterial grade 2 and have collector and distributor role in an irregular form. Therefore, as crisis occurring, access to vital facilities and accommodation spaces would be difficult which brings the necessity of considering the availability of accommodation and relief spaces.
Figure 5: Hierarchy of pathways network in Sabzevar city[21]

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According to the conceptual framework and criteria for locating accommodation and relief centers, TOPSIS method was used to prioritize the criteria in the city of Sabzevar. For this purpose, three indices including reaching time to accommodation and relief centers for injuries, official relief, and rescue performance and reducing the vulnerability were utilized. To do this, in TOPSIS method, first, the nature of the indicators must be specified. In this case, the nature of all indicators is positive. Furthermore, the indicators weight and criteria scores according to experts recommendations and based on the condition of the Sabzevar city were extracted and inserted in [Table 2].
Table 2: Scoring the criteria and weight the indicators for locating the accommodation and relief centers in Sabzevar city

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Finally, [Table 3] shows the results of prioritizing criteria for locating the accommodation and relief centers in Sabzevar based on TOPSIS technique. As shown in [Table 3], the criterion of proximity to residential areas has the highest priority in locating accommodation and relief centers in the city of Sabzevar. In fact, on one hand, due to the relatively high population density in the central region of Sabzevar and increasing vulnerability of the area in crisis, and on the other hand, because of the importance of reaching time of residents and victims to accommodation and relief centers, this criterion is the most important in Sabzevar city. Furthermore, according to the study conducted in pathways network of Sabzevar city, as well as the importance of the criterion of convenient access to pathways with respect to all three indicators, it has been shown that this criterion is of secondary importance in terms of locating accommodation and relief centers, in Sabzevar city. Furthermore, vicinity to fire stations, proximity to medical centers, and being away from hazardous installations, are in the third and fourth priorities, respectively.
Table 3: Prioritizing criteria for locating the accommodation and relief centers in Sabzevar based on TOPSIS technique

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  Conclusion Top


The rapid increase in world population and locating of about half of them in cities have caused incidents and events that occur in urban areas to be considered more. One of the important issues that cities are constantly facing is natural disasters such as earthquakes, land-slide, flood, fires, etc. Furthermore, one of the important issues that must be considered in crisis management procedure is accommodation and relief centers for victims and injured. In summary of theoretical basics, locating the accommodation and relief centers is in connection with the discussion of crisis management and is in line with before crisis action at the urban level (local) of crisis management. Investigations showed that standard criteria such as living next to residential area, proximity to medical centers, vicinity to the fire station, convenient access to roads, and avoiding hazardous urban facilities are of the highest priority in locating the accommodation and relief centers. In the following, according to the conceptual framework of this research and extraction criteria for the locating the accommodation and relief centers, above criteria were prioritized using TOPSIS technique in Sabzevar city. For this purpose, three indices including reaching time to accommodation and relief centers for injuries, official relief, and rescue performance and reducing the vulnerability, were considered.

Considering the circumstances and characteristics of Sabzevar city, the criterion of proximity to residential applications has the highest priority in locating the accommodation and relief centers in that city. In fact, on one hand, because of the high population density in the central regions of Sabzevar and increasing vulnerability of the area in the event of an crisis and on the other hand, due to importance of the arrival of residents and victims to accommodation and relief centers, this is the most important criterion in Sabzevar city. Furthermore, according to the conducted survey on the roads network of Sabzevar city and the importance of this criterion with respect to all three indicators, it has been found that the mentioned criterion has the secondary importance in terms of locating the accommodation and relief centers in Sabzevar city. In fact, these spaces should be designed in such a way that be close to populated areas and also provide convenient access to the accumulation of injured and victims. Furthermore, criteria such as proximity to fire station, proximity to urban health centers, and being away from dangerous urban installations, are in the next priorities, respectively.

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Shakhes Pajouh Engineering Institute of Natural Hazards, Isfahan, Iran.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

 
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  [Figure 1], [Figure 2], [Figure 3], [Figure 4], [Figure 5]
 
 
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