Household disaster preparedness in the Islamic Republic of Iran: 2015 estimation.

BACKGROUND: The Islamic Republic of Iran is at high risk of natural disasters. Households are the basic unit of society and they need to be prepared for disasters. AIMS: This study assessed disaster preparedness among Iranian households in 2015. METHODS: Using multistage cluster sampling, 2968 households in the catchment area of 53 public health departments in all 30 provinces of the Islamic Republic of Iran were surveyed on the disaster preparedness measures they had taken in the past year. The data collection questionnaire included 15 disaster preparedness measures. The mean preparedness score was calculated and its association with residence (urban versus rural), house ownership (owner versus renter) and education level of the head of the household (illiterate, elementary school, middle school, high school, university) was evaluated. RESULTS: The mean score for household disaster preparedness was 9.3 out of 100 (95% confidence interval: 8.3-10.3). Multivariate analysis showed higher preparedness among rural than urban households (P = 0.02). Higher education level was positively associated with a higher preparedness score (P < 0.001), as was house ownership (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The level of household disaster preparedness in the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2015 was low. In line with the first priority for action of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the current study provides an overall picture of household disaster preparedness in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This estimation can be used as a baseline value for policy-making, planning, and evaluation of public awareness of disasters in the country.

Nongovernmental organizations coordination models in natural hazards: A systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) play a significant role to provide humanitarian services in natural hazards. However, few studies have been conducted on the coordination models of NGOs. Using these models, NGOs are expected to act along with other agencies to provide unified and effective humanitarian's services. The present study aimed to identify the published coordination models of NGOs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This systematic review was conducted from October to November 2017. Electronic source, including PubMed, Web of Science, ProQuest Research Library, and Scopus were examined. All English articles published in journals or presented at conferences were included in the study. Nonjournal and irrelevant articles were excluded from the study. Furthermore, papers which were not available as a full text and published in languages other than English were also excluded. Thematic analysis technique was used to analyze the articles. RESULTS: From 871 documents which captured in initial search, only 7 studies identified as eligible articles for extract 8 coordination models of NGOs in disasters and emergencies including: (1) Sphere project, (2) Cluster approach, (3) Code of conduct, (4) Decentralized approach, (5) National Disaster Response Framework, (6) Conceptual integrated NGO collaboration framework for community postdisaster reconstruction, (7) Model of temporal coordination of disaster response activities, and (8) Collabit application. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review identified eight proposed coordination models that have been implemented internationally, nationally, and locally in natural hazards. However, these models are not enough, and there are some gaps between what is it and what should be. More effective and efficient models and strategies are needed to increase the effectiveness of coordination activities at all levels of community. These results should serve policy-makers and administrators of NGOs delivering humanitarian services during and postnatural hazards to choose from a number of options on how to coordinate their efforts.

Assessment of women's empowerment: An exploratory study to develop a valid and reliable Persian-version tool.

Lack of a valid and reliable women's empowerment tool was reported by previous studies in Iran. The authors of this paper, accordingly, intended to fill this gap by developing a valid questionnaire. 600 women in Dezful city, southeast of Iran, took part in the study in 2014-2015. Multistage sampling method was used to recruit the participants. Our exploratory factor analysis revealed that 18 items of the model loaded on 4 factors. Internal consistency of the questionnaire was suitable as Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.77. Considering high validity and shortness of the questionnaire, it can be used as a trustful and comprehensive tool to measure women's empowerment in future studies.