Investigation of the level of Varzeqan city households’ readiness against natural disasters

1. Introduction

Humans awareness of hazards and reaction to them, depends on the past experience and information and knowledge received from family, environment and society. Getting knowledge and experience about hazards is an educational process and need guidance in order to stay in the right way. Although the response is very important, the other way of reducing the impact of crises on societies is consideration the process of preparation in order to reduce vulnerability and improve flexibility. Elimination of hazards is impossible, but reduction of its damage is possible and society readiness is considered as part of decrease in damage and vulnerability program. More emphasis of readiness phase is empowerment and capacity building in the society which is at risk. Since every crisis is a local event, readiness begins from home with some simple steps in order to enhance the level of safety in life, protect life and property against events. Regarding importance of the subject, the present research has considered the level of readiness of Varzeqan city's households against natural hazards. Among 41 types of natural hazards in the world, 31 disasters occur in different regions of Iran. In Varzaghan based on its location, geological structure and existence of natural elements various disasters happen every year. One of the hazards that threatens Varzagan is flood, earthquake, snowfall, severe cold, blizzard and etc. Varzaghan is one of the most vulnerable areas which locating at the Alborz and Zagros Mountains encountering. Varzaghan is considered as one of the earthquake prone regions of the country. There is an earthquake hazard in the whole of the region, and the latest earthquake in the area occurred at 16:53, August 11, 2012, with a magnitude of 6.4 near the cities of Ahar and Varzaghan. Considering the importance of investigation of this subject in the study area, the research hypotheses are as follows: The readiness of households against natural hazards in the Varzgan city is not appropriate. There is a significant difference among the urban neighborhoods of Varzaghan in readiness against natural hazards. There is a significant difference among the readiness components of Varzaghan city's households against natural disasters.

2. Methodology

The research method is descriptive-analytic, which is done using library-documentary and field study (questionnaire). The statistical population of the research is the households of Varzaghan city, which according to the statistic of 2015 were 1401 households. The sample size was estimated 305 households using Cochran formula. The analysis unit has been selected the households of old, middle and new textures of Varzaghan city. For sampling a cluster (neighborhoods), class (context) and simple random sampling (households) have been used. Validity of the questionnaires was confirmed by the experts. Cronbach's alpha method was used to reliability evaluation of measure instrument, which indicates the data is reliable (0.935). In order to find answer to the first hypothesis and measure the level of desirability of household readiness, one sample T test was used.

To answer the second hypothesis and study of significance difference in readiness level among the neighborhoods of Varzaghan city, one-way analysis of variance has been used. To answer the third hypothesis and study of significance difference among the components of Varzaghan household's readiness, one-way analysis of variance and Tukey test has been used.

3- Results and Discussion

The results of t test for readiness of the Varzagan households against natural disasters indicate that the P-value (0.312) is greater than the alpha level (0.05); As a result, the state of readiness is not suitable and the first hypothesis of the research is confirmed. The neighborhoods difference has been studied in terms of readiness components among the old, middle and new textures. The results of one-way analysis of variance for differences in the level of readiness of households living in these neighborhoods indicate that there is no significant difference in the level of readiness among neighborhoods of Varzaghan city. The P-value obtained in this test is 0.743, which is greater than the alpha value of 0.05; Therefore, H0 is confirmed and the second hypothesis of the research is rejected. The reason for the lack of significant difference among neighborhoods is that of the homogeneity of the social and economic conditions of the people of the city, the lack of difference and discrimination among the city's textures and the equal consideration of them for the planning and implementation of programs, low population and small size of the city, which makes every program and training course to be considered for the whole city so that the entire population of the city is in a same state of readiness. The results of one-way ANOVA test showed the difference among the components. P-value in this test is 0.004, which is below the alpha level of 0.05; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected and the third hypothesis of research is confirmed. The results of the Tukey test in determining the difference among the components show that group A contains physical readiness with an average of 3.1 and operational readiness with an average of 2.947 is in group B. Mental-attitude readiness with an average of 3.037 is in both groups. In the output of the second part of this test, there is only a difference between the operational readiness and physical readiness, and there is not significant difference between the other components.

4- Conclusion

Households' readiness has been studied in terms of three components, namely operational, mental-attitude and physical. The society preparation goal is rapid response to reduce the damages and short-term and long-term problems caused by a hazard and, ultimately, to reduce the damage and prevent them. The present research considered the level of readiness of Varzeqan city's households against natural hazards. In Varzaghan based on its location, geological structure and existence of natural elements various disasters happen every year. In general, the results of this study indicate that this region need to take the risks resulted from natural hazards seriously and increase the readiness of citizens against it. This requires serious attention to the public education of all classes and households by institutions and organizations which are responsible for this field.