FUNCTIONALITY ASSESSMENT OF URBAN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS FOR RESCUE AND RELIEF ACTIVITIES IN THE AFTERMATH OF EARTHQUAKE IN LARGE POPULATED CITIES

摘要

This paper proposes a method for assessing the functionality of the urban transportation systems during earthquake in large and populated cities with special consideration of the traffic problems including supply and demand issues. Attention has been paid to the travels caused by the earthquake in addition to the normal city travels, and also to achieving the minimum total-travel-time of rescue and relief teams, in the aftermath of earthquake. These are of great value for decreasing the life loss as well as products and materials losses. Six stages are considered for system efficiency evaluation: 1) defining earthquake scenarios, 2) demand estimation, 3) supply estimation, 4) travel distribution, 5) travel assignment, finally 6) Obtaining the average travel time in the entire network. The use of the proposed method is presently under investigation for the effective rescue and relief activities in Tehran metropolis, which are necessities for a successful disaster management. Based on the features of the proposed evaluation procedure for transportation system it can be said that the demand and supply concepts can be included in the modeling process of the transportation network with a reasonable attempt. Since the time of earthquake occurrence is a very important factor in both public reaction and the traffic flow, special care should be taken in this regard.