Identification and Prioritization of the Factors Affecting the Disaster Preparedness of Schools in Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Iran has always been prone to natural disasters, such as hurricanes and earthquakes, which are followed by heavy financial and bodily harms. In this regard, it is crucial to have disaster management in the schools of Iran to protect the significant number of young people studying in schools. Therefore, school principals must be constantly prepared for disasters and develop disaster management plans. METHODS: The present study aimed to identify and prioritize the factors that affect the natural disaster preparedness of schools using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method. Moreover, another objective of this research was to rank the elementary schools in District 6 of Mashhad regarding their disaster preparedness with the fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS). In this research, first, the criteria and sub-criteria for disaster preparedness were obtained using the Delphi method and according to the opinions of experts. Afterward, the collected criteria and sub-criteria were ranked using the FAHP method. The statistical population of this research consisted of experts, including principals and experts in the studied schools (schools in District 6 of Mashhad) who were familiar with disaster management issues. In total, 10 experts were selected as the sample using the purposive sampling method. FINDINGS: Based on the results, the most important disaster preparedness factors in schools were building retrofit, adherence to basic standards, and committee formation, in that order. CONCLUSION: Finally, the elementary schools of District 6 of Mashhad were ranked in terms of disaster preparedness using the obtained model and the FTOPSIS. This ranking can help the managers in making decisions to prioritize the conduction of building retrofit of the schools in the studied area.