Risk Assessment of Rockfall using GIS-Based Analytical Hierarchy Process: A Case Study of Bitlis Province

Rockfall is one of the important natural disasters that can result in death, although it does not occur very often. Bitlis province in Turkey is frequently exposed to serious rockfall events due to its rugged-mountainous structure and harsh climatic conditions. Rockfall risk rely on many hazard factors such as slope, lithology, soil, elevation, precipitation, vulnerability factors i.e., land use and population. The Analytical Hierarchy process (AHP) is a highly skilled approach for risk assessment studies involving multiple decision-making criteria. In this study, the rockfall risk assessment of the province of Bitlis, which was chosen as the study area, was performed using AHP, and discussed. Geographic Information System (GIS) were used to visualize the results maps. The study concluded that the rockfall risks were mostly concentrated in the mountainous and rugged southwest and partially southeast areas, including the city and district centers. Except for the foothills of the volcanic mountains, the northern parts of the study area were generally considered as risk-free. The risk zones obtained from the study are relatively consistent with the results of a previous limited study.