Riverine flood vulnerability assessment and zoning using geospatial data and MCDA method in Aq’Qala

Aq’Qala county has been categorized as a high flood-prone area in Iran, and faced many major flood events in last two decades (e.g. in 2001, 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, and 2019). The main aim of the current study is to produce and validate flood vulnerability rate (FVR) maps of this area relying on geospatial data. Vulnerability criteria were identified through flood expert's consultations, field surveys and taking into consideration a flood event of 2019. Subsequently, the criteria were clustered into five main classes: topography, climatology, human factors, geology and morphology. All sub-criteria were analysed using an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) questionnaire and fuzzification by triangular fuzzy number (TFN-AHP) was used for factor weighting.  Results demonstrated that application of remote sensing data and Multi-Criteria methods simultaneously can provide reliable flood vulnerability outputs.