Spatial-Temporal Assessment of Natural Disaster Losses Using Comb- ined AHP-Entropy Weight Method: A Case Study of Jiangxi Province

chunyan zhang , Zhe WANG, Huaisheng ZHANG

The Disaster Situation Index (DSI) serves as a crucial method for natural disaster loss assessment. However, the weight determination in existing assessment practices is characterized by strong subjectivity and methodological singularity, while the classification of DSI also suffers from artificial subjective arbitrariness. To resolve these two issues, this study proposes a hybrid approach integrating subjective and objective weights (AHP—Entropy Weight Method—Linear Combination Method) for indicator weight calculation, and introduces the elbow rule of spatial clustering to determine classification levels. The proposed method is validated using historical disaster data of Jiangxi Province from 2015 to 2024. Results indicate that among the past decade, 2019 witnessed the most severe disasters in Jiangxi, followed by 2020 and 2022. Spatially, extremely severe and Severe affected areas are distributed in northeastern (Shangrao) and northern (Jiujiang), southern (Ganzhou) of Jiangxi; Moderate disaster-affected areas are mainly in the southern part (Ji'an).Mild disaster-affected areas are distributed in a belt shape in the central region.Slight disaster-affected areas are mainly concentrated in the mid-western and central regions of Jiangxi Province. Consistent with the regional actual situation, the assessment results demonstrate the good practicality and effectiveness of the proposed method.