Regional flood emergency capacity assessment based on a multidimensional framework

Knowing the status of emergency capacity for disaster risk reduction helps the government and stakeholders to minimize vulnerabilities and disaster risk. However, there is no widely applied methodology for emergency capacity assessment. This study develops a multidimensional framework integrating vulnerability, susceptibility, and adaptability assessments to evaluate regional flood emergency capacity. The information quantity method, the Maxent model, and the entropy-weighted TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) are used to assess the regional vulnerability, susceptibility, and adaptability of disaster emergency capacity, respectively. These capacity features are then integrated into the overall disaster capacity using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP)-entropy method. The exemplary application in Zengcheng District (ZCD), China shows the effectiveness of the proposed method. 

The findings show that vulnerability hotspots of flood over ZCD are located in Xintang and southern Yongning, driven by their high road density, GDP per capita, residential disposable income, and high population density. Susceptibility modeling revealed land use, Vegetation Index, and elevation as the dominant drivers, with Xintang exhibiting the highest risk. Adaptability assessments highlighted superior resilience in Paitan, Zhongxin, and Shitan, driven by enhanced disaster-preparedness investments. Integrated analysis prioritized emergency resource storage capacity, drainage capacity, and emergency rescue capacity as critical determinants of flood response capacity. Lower emergency capacity is concentrated in Zhongxin, Xiaolou, Zhenguo, and Zhucun. This paper constructs a multidimensional assessment framework covering the entire chain of pre-disaster prevention, in-disaster response, and post-disaster recovery, to systematically evaluate a region's comprehensive emergency capacity, providing potentially feasible insights for urban areas vulnerable to flood disasters.