Emergency Shelter Site Selection in Maar Shurin Community of Idlib (Syria)

Abstract

Abstract Constructing shelters is one of the most important precautions to reduce human casualties during disasters. The critical point in locating the shelter is the selection of the proper site. Unless shelters are placed in the right locations, they cannot serve as lifesaving tools. In this article, shelter site selection for a conflict area in Syria is taken into account. Notoriously, Syria has been facing these conflicts since 2011 and the intensity of the incidents is varying from region to region. Thus, in this study, Maar Shurin Community of Idlib is chosen as the study area because of its high airstrike/casualty statistics in 2018. A geographic information system (GIS) and its multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) tools are used for determining the shelter site. Four different scenarios based on different criteria weights are generated to provide alternative solutions. It is believed that the outputs of the proposed methodology can help the local administration to solve its real-life problems.