ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the impact of a pandemic on societies. While the social structure of societies plays a major role in overcoming a pandemic, research has revealed that pandemics should be taken more seriously in societies. In this study, a hybrid approach based on a modified Delphi and DEMATEL approach under a fuzzy environment is proposed to identify and assess social vulnerability factors during pandemics. To handle the evaluation of decision-makers more accurately under uncertainty, fuzzy sets are employed. The results show that age and an age of 17 years or younger are the most significant social vulnerability factors on communities for pandemic spread. Furthermore, unemployment and ethnic diversity result in serious consequences to coping with pandemics and they should be taken into consideration to reduce the effect of pandemics. This study aims to present a new perspective for policymakers and practitioners in countries to develop policies in fighting against pandemics.
