Investigation of Influential Factors in Urban Crisis Management During Floods (Case Study: Sadra City, Fars province)

Subject Areas : Urban planning

Alireza Valipour ¹

1 - Islamic Azad University Shiraz Branch

Received: 2023-01-24 Accepted : 2023-04-14 Published : 2023-10-23

Keywords: Multi-Criteria Decision Making, Sadra city, SWARA, crisis management, Flood,

Abstract :

Crisis management in flood has a distinctive relationship with urban planning and management subjects. Yearly, floods cause a lot of damage to public and private property as well as loss of life. Inspecting the strengths and weaknesses of crisis management is strongly felt during floods. This research aims to recognize and rank all kinds of crises and organizational strengths and weaknesses. Sadra city, an area that is very prone to floods, has been selected as a case study. Initially, data was collected via interviews, literature review, and distributing questionnaires among 150 crisis management specialists. After that, the SWARA method was used to analyze data, which is one of the most optimum multi-criteria decision-making methods. According to the attained results, 10 strong points and 13 weak points were recognized during the flood crisis. Among these points, the flooding of roads, the blocking of access roads, and the water supply network cut-off were the most significant types of crises, respectively. Likewise, separate and selective maps of the city and quick and easy access to addresses and parts with different uses in any section of the city with a score of 0.1718, the newness of water and sewerage, electricity, gas, and telecommunications networks in the city with a score of 0.1418 and the absence of urban decay in the city or unprincipled and non-technical suburbs were identified as the most important strengths with a score of 0.1183. Besides, according to the respondents, the most important weakness is the rain in a short period with a high volume of runoff with a coefficient of 0.1992, which causes severe damage to tables and urban facilities, and residential houses.Extended AbstractIntroduction:  In the last few years has proved that Iran to be disaster-prone country. Annual damage to public and private property and also loss of life due to the occurrence of these events is entered. Nonetheless, it is observed that crisis management is not conducted completely in Iran. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify and rank all kinds of crisis and weaknesses and strengths of organization. Factors affecting the organizational communication in crisis management were identified. The occurrence of these incidents in our country has taken many victims and caused major damages to the economic and social structure of the country. Past experiences in Iran show that dealing with natural disasters and their complications is a big challenge for the authorities.  The reason for choosing the city of Sadra as a case study was the existence of many crises caused by the flood. Sadra city, as one of the new cities in Fars's province, faces the dangers and problems of the natural environment today. Therefore, it is essential to know the effective factors in reducing flood damage. The most important question of the research is that how and through what process can a suitable to investigate of Influential Factors in Urban Crisis Management During Floods? This research aims to recognize and rank all kinds of crises and organizational strengths and weaknesses. Sadra city, an area that is very prone to floods, has been selected as a case study.Methodology:In terms of purpose, this research is in the field of applied research, and in terms of research method, according to the subject and purpose, it is descriptive-analytical. The method of collecting information in this research is based on library-document studies and field studies. Data was collected through interview, a literature review and a questionnaire survey distributed among 150 crisis management experts. Data analysis was performed using statistical tests and SWARA method.Results and discussion:The results showed that the flooding of roads was the most important crisis in the occurrence of floods in Sadra. The purpose of this research was to fill this research gap by identifying and ranking the strengths and weaknesses of organizations and experts of the crisis management headquarters during the flood crisis in Sadra city in Fars province. In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the desired information was obtained through interviews with experts and available documents. Finally, 10 strengths and 13 weaknesses were identified. The results showed that the top three factors in the strengths of flood crisis management in Sadra city include "the availability of all the city's segregation and classification maps and quick and easy access to addresses and parts with different uses in any part of the city" and "the newness of network facilities" "water and sewage-electricity-gas-communications in the city" and "absence of worn-out fabric in the city or unprincipled and non-technical settlements" had scores of 0.1718, 0.1408 and 0.1183, respectively. In addition to this, the results showed that three important weaknesses in crisis management include "rainfall in a short period of time with a high volume of runoff, which causes serious damage to the tables and urban facilities" and "the passage of all runoff after passing through the city's roads to the point of the city boundary line and leaving the city only from two points (Tang Jalab and Dukohak Road) which are the main access roads to the city" and "non-construction of flood dams or calm ponds or delays in the upstream points and the entry of runoff into the city during heavy rains causing stones to flow There is a lot of sand on the surface of the roads and clogging of the canals, as well as causing damage. Another goal of this research was to identify factors affecting organizational communication in crisis management. These identified factors included timely information, correct information, complete information, appropriate information, fast information, communication channels and feedback.Conclusion:It is one of the new cities of Iran and Fars province, which is located 18 kilometers northwest of Shiraz. Due to the occurrence of floods in Sadra city, it is necessary to identify and evaluate effective factors in flood control. By reviewing previous studies, it was observed that limited studies have been conducted in the field of crisis management during floods in Sadra city. The purpose of this research was to fill this research gap by identifying and ranking the strengths and weaknesses of organizations and experts of the crisis management headquarters during the flood crisis in Sadra city in Fars province. One of the goals of this research was to identify the factors affecting organizational communication in crisis management. These identified factors included timely information, correct information, complete information, appropriate information, fast information, communication channels and feedback. The meaning of timely information is that the decision maker gets the necessary information at the time of need. In fact, it should express the latest information about a phenomenon in a timely manner. Facilitate timely access to information to make decisions about how to prevent crises. Appropriate information means that the information can respond to what is requested by the recipient. In general, access to appropriate information is effective in identifying the early signs of a crisis and has helped crisis managers in emergency situations. Correct information means that there are no mistakes or errors in the information and that it provides accurate information to the decision makers. This correct information prevents the recurrence of past crises. The results of this study can be used in determining the appropriate strategy as well as covering the weak points in flood crisis management in Sadra city.

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