Uav-Aided Decision Support Tool With Analytic Hierarchy Process For Floodplain Risk Assessment

Abstract

Flooding is one among the recurring hazards affecting Calbayog City, a sea-level coastal city in Samar, Philippines.   The city is exposed to destructive typhoons and heavy monsoon rains due it its proximity to rivers and sea compounded intensified by deforestation, improper land use and worsening climate change.  Aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 11 and 13, the study aimed to generate high-resolution flood risk maps of Calbayog City, Samar and develop a web-based decision support tool that houses such maps. The research was carried out over twelve (12) months and involved data collection, modelling and generation of flood risk maps using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and the construction of the decision support tool. The findings reveal that among the four factors that contribute to flood risk, site elevation is the highest with a normalized weight of 0.6704. It is followed by distance from the river, distance from the sea, and population density with normalized weights of 0.1768, 0.0985, and 0.0543 respectively. It must be noted that insights of the experts are crucial to attaining relevant and more accurate weights of the contributing factors. This study provides a foundation for further exploration and development in the realm of computing as applied to disaster risk reduction.   Generally, this research project represents a significant contribution to the field of computing, shedding light on the use of AHP on flood risk assessment.