نبی الله منصوری

INTRODUCTION: Nowshahr port city can suffer a lot of damages in case of an earthquake due to its location in seismotectonics of Alborz with high seismic hazard, proximity to the sea, and expansion on isolated sediments. Therefore, the recognition and analysis of the extent of earthquake vulnerability in different areas of this port city can reduce damages and losses. This study was conducted to analyze and evaluate the earthquake risk and vulnerability and identify safe areas in the city of Nowshahr in times of earthquake. METHODS: In this study, the earthquake risk of Nowshahr city was analyzed based on the Wisner model and the application of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). Initially, the effective criteria, sub-criteria, and indicators in the earthquake risk and vulnerability components were collected through a systematic review based on previous research, field survey, and experts' opinion, and were then screened and weighed by the Delphi method. Finally, the earthquake risk and vulnerability maps were extracted and drawn using a weighted linear combination method and fuzzy index maps related to each component. FINDINGS: According to the findings, about 97.13% (2,810.229 ha), 2.75% (79.567 ha), and 0.12% (3.441 ha) of Nowshahr city were placed in the low, medium, and high-risk category. CONCLUSION: Analysis of risk maps showed that the earthquake risk was higher in the central and northwestern parts of Nowshahr city than in the other areas. These areas were densely populated with heavy traffic jams, in which located high-risk facilities, such as gas lines and water and sewer networks, that reminded of the necessity of planning and urgent action regarding the improvement of urban settlements and organization of urban spaces in this region.

INTRUDUCTION: Staff of medical centers, who are saviors of accident victims, face risks at work that may even lose their lives. Although different criteria have been used in different studies, the performance of medical centers in terms of health, safety, and environment (HSE) management has not been evaluated. Therefore, the extraction, grouping, and prioritization of the HSE management assessment criteria of medical centers were performed in the present study. METHODS: Using the systematic method, following examining the most important methods, the criteria and sub-criteria associated with the HSE management of the medical centers were extracted, grouped and prioritized using the opinions of experts. The entropy method was employed to analyze the criteria. FINDINGDS: Total of 33 criteria and 166 sub-criteria were extracted which from them the criteria of operation control, risk management, and resource management had the highest repetition in the performance assessment methods. Finally, the cases were classified in 13 criteria and 35 sub-criteria, and the criteria of strategic management and compliance with laws and regulations were of the highest importance from the viewpoint of the study experts.