evaluation of the earthquake resilience of baghershahr, iran

Introduction: because of the vulnerability of human settlements to natural disasters and damage caused by them, the study of the resilience of settlements has become critical in planning urban areas. the purpose of this study was to evaluate the earthquake resilience of baghershahr, a town with a population of 67000 people , located at a distance of 4 km from tehran, iran. methods: the research data were collected using survey method (questionnaire) and also by using statistical documents and documented reports. the analytic hierarchy process (ahp) technique was used to determine the coefficient of importance of indicators, and descriptive statistics methods were used in data analysis. findings: the study area has, on average, only 36.6% of the ideal conditions of resilience. this figure was 25.5% in the institutional dimension, indicating that this dimension has the lowest resilience compared with the other dimensions. the physical dimension has 31.7% of the ideal conditions of resilience, and the economic dimension has 40.5% of the ideal conditions of resilience. the highest level belonged to the social dimension, which was 45.4%. conclusion: the studied area is an example of iranian settlements with very low resilience. the low level of resilience of baghershahr is due to the risks caused by its vicinity to the oil and gas refinery complex, thermal power plant, sulfur industry, and numerous plastic recycling workshops, huge stores of petroleum products, gas and crude oil, and crude oil pipelines. it is also due to sudden formation and uncontrolled rapid growth of the town, which has been accompanied by widespread migration of low-income classes over the past few decades.