Regional Drought Resiliency and Vulnerability: Fid-Bau Portal

Regional Drought Resiliency and Vulnerability

Karamouz, M. / Zeynolabedin, A. / Olyaei, M. A.

Drought is a natural phenomenon that can occur in almost any region. Vulnerability and resiliency are two important concepts in studying any natural hazard, including drought. This study investigates the application of both of these concepts in drought management in East Azerbaijan province in Iran. A vulnerability map of the region was developed by considering the spatial characteristics of some important parameters in drought in a geographic information system environment. A general framework is also presented for quantifying system’s resiliency to drought in the Aharchay watershed, which contains the important Sattarkhan Dam Reservoir. This watershed is one of the important watersheds in the case study. To develop this framework, the characteristics related to four resiliency components—rapidity, robustness, resourcefulness, and redundancy—are determined. The relative importance of these components is determined using multicriteria decision making (MCDM). By combining resiliency and vulnerability, it is demonstrated how vulnerable the different parts of a system are. The results show that the western part of the province has the highest vulnerability and the downstream area of Sattarkhan dam is more resilient in comparison to the upstream. The methodology proposed in this study can be used for drought preparedness planning and for allocating resources in a region.