Disaster risk analysis of Bitlis province using geographical information systems and analytical hierarchy method

The increase in human activities together with the population causes natural disasters in the world and an increase in disaster risks. For this reason, predetermination of natural disaster risks is very important in terms of disaster and risk management. Natural events such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, avalanches, and rockfalls occur frequently in our country, which has variable climate and crustal characteristics. Thanks to the developing technology and new techniques, many studies are being carried out on the identification of disasters and not creating risk maps. In this thesis study, the disaster profile of Bitlis Province was tried to be determined with the help of Analytical Hierarchy Method (AHM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). For this purpose, hazard/risk maps were created for each of the disaster types such as earthquake, landslide, flood and avalanche and these maps were interpreted. The fact that this area has been studied for the first time with the method used unlike other similar studies and that more than one type of disaster is examined together constitute the novelty of the thesis. It is expected that the results of the study will benefit the relevant institutions and organizations for an effective emergency and disaster management in our country in general and in Bitlis and will shed light on future similar studies.