Assessment and Identification of drought prone zone in a Low Laying Area by AHP and MIF method: A GIS based study

Abstract

The study location, the Imphal West district of Manipur state, is known for its flood-prone character due to its low-lying topography in India’s north-eastern region. Unexpectedly, in the year 2019, a drought-like scenario with extremely limited available surface water arose, severely affecting agricultural activity in the region, which is primarily covered by agricultural land. Drought-prone zones for 2019 were discovered using GIS (Geographical Information System) tools and satellite data, employing both the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and MIF (Multi Influencing Factor) methods. Seven parameters (rainfall, temperature, slope, drainage density, soil, landuse/landcover, and groundwater yield) were taken as input parameters. Drought zones were simulated and classified as mild (22.82% according to AHP and 39.42% according to MIF), moderate (60.10% and 54.71%), severe (16.16% and 5.55%), and extreme (0.92% and 0.32%). Drought data (ground data) from the State Government Department (2019) shows that 43.71% of drought zones are mild, while 51.32% are moderate, indicating that the MIF approach can more accurately simulate the drought region than the AHP method.