Essential element vulnerabilities and comprehensive disaster risk assessment for urban planning and risk management in Azogues, Ecuador

The comprehensive assessment of disaster risk provides information on the potential adverse effects that could condition the city's processes, due to the interaction and contribution of its components in the development of hazard and vulnerability scenarios. By analyzing the most relevant hazards of the urban environment, identifying the vulnerabilities of the critical elements for the development of the city and the exposure of the elements to hazards; this study focuses on the understanding and holistic assessment of the disaster risk of the city of Azogues in Ecuador, in order to provide information to the local government, institutions and the population, to guide decision-making in urban planning and disaster risk management during all stages of disasters. To this end, a semi-quantitative methodology was applied based on the Multi-criteria Decision Analysis Method, and within this, the Analytic Hierarchy Process method and the heuristic approach and Geographic Information Systems and their tools. The results determined that some elements related to the health, education and supply sectors present certain vulnerabilities, although these are not associated with exposure to hazards. In relation to the most relevant hazards, approximately 7% and 33% of the total study area present high levels of susceptibility to landslides and forest fires, respectively. Finally, it was established that the most important factors affecting landslides are geological aspects and slope; and for forest fires, land use (vegetation) and radiation.