Análise multicritério na definição de vulnerabilidade ambiental.

Brazil has shown thousands of incidents every year, which the State of Rio Grande do Sul is part of a significant portion that suffers mainly, from disasters related to heavy rainfalls. Thus, this paper presents a diagnostic of the urban area's vulnerability as regards as landslides in the medium city of Santa Maria, located in the central area of the State. To determine the degree of vulnerability it was applied remote sensing, GIS, geoprocessing, and multicriteria decision analysis. By means of thematic maps of hypsometry, slope, pedology, and soil use, it was applied to the algebra operation of maps and analytic hierarchy process. As a result, it was obtained the levels of potential environmental fragility (FAP) and emerging environmental fragility (FAE). It was concluded that although less than 15% of urban or no urbanisable areas are in hazardous areas, the urban perimeter is mostly in transitional areas and preventive measures should be implemented to avoid possible disruption of stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]