Flood evacuation shelter location-allocation considering vulnerability identification in the context of pre-requisition

As China navigates its path to development, rapid growth has been accompanied by persistent challenges, including a widening wealth gap and urban–rural divide, leaving vulnerable populations in towns and villages particularly at risk of flooding disasters. Faced with extreme weather, emergency plans typically fail to account for special-needs groups. Pinpointing the spatial distribution of vulnerabilities and high-risk flood areas, improving the multi-functionality of emergency shelters, and determining the reasonable layout of shelters pose critical challenges in disaster prevention and mitigation. To address the problem of inefficient rural shelter layouts and insufficient protection for special-needs populations, the pre-requisition system, as a part of the emergency planning framework, provides a novel approach. Through scientific planning and resource pre-allocation, before disasters strike, this system can enhance emergency response efficiency and optimize shelter layouts. This study, within the context of this system, presents a shelter site selection decision-making method that combines bottom-up and top-down approaches, integrating vulnerability identification, diverse needs, emergency evacuation zoning, and shelter layout optimization. Using Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province as a case study, real data were analyzed with ArcGIS software to determine optimal shelter placements. The study verified the necessity of considering the varied needs of affected populations and validates the feasibility of the proposed model through a comparative analysis of coverage results. The findings not only provide valuable insights for targeted planning and differentiated resource allocation in rural areas but also offer support for the practical implementation of the pre-requisition system in shelter locations.