Multi-criteria decision-making method for emergency shelter site selection considering flood risk: A case study of Zhuhai, China

In China, the annual area affected by floods accounts for approximately two-thirds of the total land area, causing enormous losses, particularly in developed urban areas. Therefore, establishing and improving urban emergency shelter systems has become indispensable to guarantee cities' safety a...

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Main Authors: Bo Liu, Yingbing Li, Yan Zhang, Zhichao Wu, Yansong Pan, Meiquan Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-02-01
Series:Cleaner Engineering and Technology
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666790825000151
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author Bo Liu
Yingbing Li
Yan Zhang
Zhichao Wu
Yansong Pan
Meiquan Li
author_facet Bo Liu
Yingbing Li
Yan Zhang
Zhichao Wu
Yansong Pan
Meiquan Li
author_sort Bo Liu
collection DOAJ
description In China, the annual area affected by floods accounts for approximately two-thirds of the total land area, causing enormous losses, particularly in developed urban areas. Therefore, establishing and improving urban emergency shelter systems has become indispensable to guarantee cities' safety and development in the new era. However, the existing site selection schemes are not comprehensive enough in the selection of influencing factors and the design of decision-making algorithms, making it difficult to cope with complex flood relief scenarios. To address these two issues, this study innovatively proposes a new multi-criteria decision-making model for selecting urban emergency shelter sites. (1) For the first time, the model systematically classifies the factors affecting the location of emergency shelter sites into four categories: hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and relief capacity, from which 11 decision-making indicators, such as flood risk, precipitation, and slope, are selected; (2) The model integrates multiple algorithms, including analytic hierarchy process, entropy weight method, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and TOPSIS, during the decision-making process, and is capable of comprehensively weighing the expert's subjective preferences, objective indicator levels and the relationship between multiple indicators to achieve a more reasonable ranking. The model was applied and evaluated in the city of Zhuhai as an example, and the results showed that more than 90% of the existing emergency shelters and natural disaster shelters in this study were located near the selected sites. In addition, the coverage rate of the selected locations in this study significantly increased by 55.3%, which exceeded the results of all comparative experiments established in this study. Among the 11 indicators involved in decision making, the most sensitive to the site selection results were slope and impervious surface, and the least sensitive was fire station accessibility. Meanwhile, we found that the central part of Xiangzhou District in Zhuhai City has the greatest demand for emergency shelter construction and the best conditions for emergency shelter construction. The flood emergency shelter site selection method proposed in this study has great potential in theory and practice, and provides a broad prospect for urban flood prevention and mitigation.
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spelling doaj-art-52ee4975a7c545a380d2f166ec78d97b2025-01-27T04:22:26ZengElsevierCleaner Engineering and Technology2666-79082025-02-0124100892Multi-criteria decision-making method for emergency shelter site selection considering flood risk: A case study of Zhuhai, ChinaBo Liu0Yingbing Li1Yan Zhang2Zhichao Wu3Yansong Pan4Meiquan Li5School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, ChinaSchool of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China; Corresponding author. No. 129, Luoyu Road, Hongshan District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China.Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaSchool of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, ChinaSchool of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, ChinaSchool of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, ChinaIn China, the annual area affected by floods accounts for approximately two-thirds of the total land area, causing enormous losses, particularly in developed urban areas. Therefore, establishing and improving urban emergency shelter systems has become indispensable to guarantee cities' safety and development in the new era. However, the existing site selection schemes are not comprehensive enough in the selection of influencing factors and the design of decision-making algorithms, making it difficult to cope with complex flood relief scenarios. To address these two issues, this study innovatively proposes a new multi-criteria decision-making model for selecting urban emergency shelter sites. (1) For the first time, the model systematically classifies the factors affecting the location of emergency shelter sites into four categories: hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and relief capacity, from which 11 decision-making indicators, such as flood risk, precipitation, and slope, are selected; (2) The model integrates multiple algorithms, including analytic hierarchy process, entropy weight method, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and TOPSIS, during the decision-making process, and is capable of comprehensively weighing the expert's subjective preferences, objective indicator levels and the relationship between multiple indicators to achieve a more reasonable ranking. The model was applied and evaluated in the city of Zhuhai as an example, and the results showed that more than 90% of the existing emergency shelters and natural disaster shelters in this study were located near the selected sites. In addition, the coverage rate of the selected locations in this study significantly increased by 55.3%, which exceeded the results of all comparative experiments established in this study. Among the 11 indicators involved in decision making, the most sensitive to the site selection results were slope and impervious surface, and the least sensitive was fire station accessibility. Meanwhile, we found that the central part of Xiangzhou District in Zhuhai City has the greatest demand for emergency shelter construction and the best conditions for emergency shelter construction. The flood emergency shelter site selection method proposed in this study has great potential in theory and practice, and provides a broad prospect for urban flood prevention and mitigation.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666790825000151Emergency sheltersSite selectionFloods spatial analysisMCDM
spellingShingle Bo Liu
Yingbing Li
Yan Zhang
Zhichao Wu
Yansong Pan
Meiquan Li
Multi-criteria decision-making method for emergency shelter site selection considering flood risk: A case study of Zhuhai, China
Cleaner Engineering and Technology
Emergency shelters
Site selection
Floods spatial analysis
MCDM
title Multi-criteria decision-making method for emergency shelter site selection considering flood risk: A case study of Zhuhai, China
title_full Multi-criteria decision-making method for emergency shelter site selection considering flood risk: A case study of Zhuhai, China
title_fullStr Multi-criteria decision-making method for emergency shelter site selection considering flood risk: A case study of Zhuhai, China
title_full_unstemmed Multi-criteria decision-making method for emergency shelter site selection considering flood risk: A case study of Zhuhai, China
title_short Multi-criteria decision-making method for emergency shelter site selection considering flood risk: A case study of Zhuhai, China
title_sort multi criteria decision making method for emergency shelter site selection considering flood risk a case study of zhuhai china
topic Emergency shelters
Site selection
Floods spatial analysis
MCDM
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666790825000151
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