Author Profile

Behnaz Rastegarfar

Affiliation: Department of Disaster & Emergency Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Emergency Management Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Department: Disaster and Emergency Health

City: Tehran

Country: Iran

B. Rastegarfar MD, MPH, PhD student Department of Disaster & Emergency Health School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences Tehran, Iran

Recent Posts

Risk Criteria in Hospital Site Selection: A Systematic Review

·

Introduction: Hospitals should be safe and remain functional in emergencies and disasters as it is mentioned in the Sendai Framework. Proper selection of a hospital location has a direct effect on survival of affected population in disasters as well as cost and benefit of the hospital in non-emergency situation. Different studies applied different criteria for Hospital Site Selection (HSS). The present study through a systematic review aimed to find out a categorized criteria list that have been used for (HSS) in the literature.

Methods: In accordance with the PRISMA statement, “PubMed”, “ScienceDirect”, “Google Scholar”, and “Scopus” were searched up to end of 2015. All English Articles that were published in peer-reviewed journals and had discussed site selection criteria for hospitals were included. Out of 41 articles, 15 met the inclusion criteria in which 39 general criteria for HSS were applied. These criteria were categorized in six main groups including cost, demand, environmental, administrative, disaster risk, and “other” concerns through a focus group discussion.

Results: Accordingly, the application percentage of cost, demand, environmental, administrative, disaster risk, and “other” concerns in the articles was 100, 93.3, 53.3, 33.3, 20.0, and 13.3 respectively. The least devoted attention was to disaster risk issues.

Discussion: Few researchers applied risk related criteria for HSS. Further consideration of “risk of hazards” and “burden of diseases” in comprehensive studies, is recommended for HSS to guide the decision makers for building more resilient hospitals. Keywords   Hospital, Site selection, Systematic review, Disaster risk

Women’s Challenges and Capabilities in Disasters: A Case Report of the Twin Earthquakes of Eastern Azerbaijan, Iran

·

Introduction: The twin earthquakes of eastern Azerbaijan induced considerable devastations of many villages and cities. About 70% of all victims were women and children. The present case report was aimed at describing the lessons learnt from both capabilities and challenges of girls and women after the twin earthquakes of eastern Azerbaijan.

Methods: A qualitative approach using in-depth unstructured interviews was used for this study. A total of 13 participants (two men and 11 women), affected by the quakes, were interviewed applying the purposeful sampling method. A manifest content analysis was performed for analyzing the transcribed interviews

Case presentation: Two categories of women’s capabilities and challenges and four subcategories of women’s participation in community reconstruction, livelihood efforts, aggravated poverty and violence were extracted from the data which were gathered in the destroyed fields of eastern Azerbaijan.

Lessons learnt: Women can play an important role in post-disaster recovery. Consequently, ignoring the challenges and capabilities of women may impede post-disaster development processes, which would adversely affect the whole community.

Tehran Dust Storm Early Warning System: Corrective Measures

·

On June 2, 2014 a sandstorm hit Tehran, the capital city of Iran which killed 5 and injured 44 people. The early warning system did not operate properly and the alarm was not transferred to at risk population and the related organizations in time and in a right manner. Additionally, people who were exposed to the winds didn’t know the appropriate safety measures. Focusing much more on establishing EWS to alert the risk prone population timely and public education for taking safety measures when exposed to the disastrous situation is recommended.