Flood Vulnerability Assessment of Pathanamthi...

Flood Vulnerability Assessment of Pathanamthitta Municipality in Kerala Using Analytical Hierarchy Process

Author Name : Neenu S. Pillai

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56025/IJARESM.2023.11723834

ABSTRACT

Flooding is a global issue facing many parts of the world. It is the most common natural hazards that affect people, infrastructure, and the natural environment in Kerala. The present study aims to demonstrate flood vulnerability zones in the Pathanamthitta municipality in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a method for organizing and analysing complex decisions using math and psychology and Geo-Spatial techniques. The influencing factors for flood analysis taken into consideration include wetness index, rainfall, slope, elevation, land use/land cover, vegetation, distance from water body, distance from road, drainage density and soil. The role of Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS techniques was quite vital in the present study which was used to prepare thematic maps of the above factors which can be the causative factor of flood and weights were assigned for each deriving criteria based on priorities and consistency ratio for application is derived out. Based on the final weight age obtain from each factor weighted sum was executed to delineate the flood vulnerable areas. The study reports that around 30% of the municipality possess flood-prone region. From that 26% falls in highly vulnerable zones and 41% low and 32% fall in moderately vulnerable regions. Therefore, a vulnerability assessment emphasizes the significance of increasing local government engagement in creating stronger disaster management plans for the study area.

Keywords: Analytical Hierarchy Process, Flood vulnerability, GIS, Remote Sensing and Weighted sum.