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

2019 ◽  
pp. 267-274

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.

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (S1) ◽  
pp. 335-337
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Shyngle ◽  
Joseph O. A. Sodipo

The River Ogunpa flood disaster was an event which created difficulties from every conceivable angle and provided many of the problems to be experienced in disaster management generally. It should be emphasized that every state hospital should have a disaster plan so that one could assume that it is adequately prepared for major accidents. Some of the teaching hospitals in Nigeria have disaster plans. However, the mere presence of a paper plan did not guarantee that it was up to date, comprehensive and understood by all staff concerned, in some of the major disasters which recently occurred in Nigeria. This article highlights some of the major natural and man-made disasters in our country, the magnitude of the damage done, factors affecting the response of the nation to the disasters, as well as some of the major deficiencies in our disaster plans.


2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 1281-1289
Author(s):  
Congguo Ma ◽  
Yudong Yang ◽  
Jianguo Wang ◽  
Yajuan Chen ◽  
Daokuan Yang

Abstract. Making a multi-attribute decision regarding the location of a swine farming facility is difficult because of the vagueness and uncertainty of the evaluation indicators. In this study, after the main factors affecting swine farming were considered, pork quality and the economic benefits of farming were analyzed. Twenty evaluation indicators were selected to establish an index for determining the location of a swine farming facility based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The values of qualitative and quantitative indicators were normalized to construct a weighted standardized matrix. The application of grey correlation analysis and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) were applied to calculate the overall degree of closeness of each candidate site. The pros and cons of the candidate sites were sorted to construct a location decision model according to the size of the overall degree of closeness. The locations of existing Suqian swine farms were used to validate the location decision method. The result showed that the location decision model could obtain satisfactory results for determining the location of a swine farming facility. Keywords: AHP, Grey correlation, Location decision model, Swine farming location, TOPSIS.


Author(s):  
Jamshid Alinasab ◽  
Seid Mohammad Reza Mirahmadi ◽  
Hassan Ghorbani ◽  
Francesco Caputo

AbstractInternationalisation begins with companies’ decision to enter global markets to develop knowledge and experience as key competitive factors in the global economy, which has been the subject of much empirical research. Decision-making, knowledge management, and effective internationalisation have become key strategic tools for all companies, especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study wants to provide a framework for SMEs internationalisation based on the real options theory, (ROT) as a knowledge driver method. For this purpose, the effective factors for internationalisation were identified by reviewing the literature on the subject and the internal and external backgrounds of the subject. Then, main and sub-factors were prioritised by the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. The statistical population consisted of senior managers, business managers of SMEs in Isfahan, Iran, who were eligible to enter this study. Twenty-six experts participated in this study by judgmental non-random sampling method. A fuzzy AHP questionnaire was prepared in the form of 19 sub-factors and 7 main factors. The components of each factor in each group were also ranked by experts, and their weights were obtained. Next, according to the ROT strategies which have 5 options, an alignment matrix was used to align the factors affecting the decision with the strategies. After answering the research question, the option that had a higher mode was considered AS; then, this score was multiplied by the weight obtained in the previous step and the TAS was obtained. Finally, strategies were classified as appropriate, need further investigation, and inappropriate.


2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Ngulube ◽  
Cynthia Kefilwe Modisane ◽  
Nampombe Mnkeni-Saurombe

Archives collect and manage traces of the memory of nations. All their efforts will come to naught if all those memories are lost due to disasters. As other archivists in the world, South African archivists and records managers as temporary guardians of the national heritage owe it to the future generations that the heritage is preserved. Disaster management should be part and parcel of the strategy to preserve archives for the present and future generations because emergency preparedness has the possibility of reducing the effects of disaster and ensuring business continuity. This article presents the findings of an assessment of disaster management activities in public archives of South Africa. A quantitative approach with a triangulation of data collection methods was used for the study. The findings revealed that disaster management did not feature prominently on their agenda as evidenced by a lack of written disaster management plans and strategies. It was concluded that without disaster plans public archival institutions are unable to preserve the South African heritage and guard against collective cultural amnesia. Among the recommendations is that South African archivists should ensure that the national documentary heritage is preserved through initiating disaster management activities nationwide.


2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (S2) ◽  
pp. S25
Author(s):  
Rannveig Bremer Fjær ◽  
Knut Ole Sundnes

In frequent humanitarian emergencies during the last decades, military forces increasingly have been engaged through provision of equipment and humanitarian assistance, and through peace-support operations. The objective of this study was to evaluate how military resources could be used in disaster preparedness as well as in disaster management and relief.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-369
Author(s):  
Katie A. Willson ◽  
Gerard J. FitzGerald ◽  
David Lim

AbstractObjective:This scoping review aims to map the roles of rural and remote primary health care professionals (PHCPs) during disasters.Introduction:Disasters can have catastrophic impacts on society and are broadly classified into natural events, man-made incidents, or a mixture of both. The PHCPs working in rural and remote communities face additional challenges when dealing with disasters and have significant roles during the Prevention, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery (PPRR) stages of disaster management.Methods:A Johanna Briggs Institute (JBI) scoping review methodology was utilized, and the search was conducted over seven electronic databases according to a priori protocol.Results:Forty-one papers were included and sixty-one roles were identified across the four stages of disaster management. The majority of disasters described within the literature were natural events and pandemics. Before a disaster occurs, PHCPs can build individual resilience through education. As recognized and respected leaders within their community, PHCPs are invaluable in assisting with disaster preparedness through being involved in organizations’ planning policies and contributing to natural disaster and pandemic surveillance. Key roles during the response stage include accommodating patient surge, triage, maintaining the health of the remaining population, instituting infection control, and ensuring a team-based approach to mental health care during the disaster. In the aftermath and recovery stage, rural and remote PHCPs provide long-term follow up, assisting patients in accessing post-disaster support including delivery of mental health care.Conclusion:Rural and remote PHCPs play significant roles within their community throughout the continuum of disaster management. As a consequence of their flexible scope of practice, PHCPs are well-placed to be involved during all stages of disaster, from building of community resilience and contributing to early alert of pandemics, to participating in the direct response when a disaster occurs and leading the way to recovery.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 238212052110207
Author(s):  
Brad D Gable ◽  
Asit Misra ◽  
Devin M Doos ◽  
Patrick G Hughes ◽  
Lisa M Clayton ◽  
...  

Background: Mass casualty and multi-victim incidents have increased in recent years due to a number of factors including natural disasters and terrorism. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recommends that medical students be trained in disaster preparedness and response. However, a majority of United States medical students are not provided such education. Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a 1 day, immersive, simulation-based Disaster Day curriculum. Settings and Design: Learners were first and second year medical students from a single institution. Materials and Methods: Our education provided learners with information on disaster management, allowed for application of this knowledge with hands-on skill stations, and culminated in near full-scale simulation where learners could evaluate the knowledge and skills they had acquired. Statistical analysis used: To study the effectiveness of our Disaster Day curriculum, we conducted a single-group pretest-posttest and paired analysis of self-reported confidence data. Results: A total of 40 first and second year medical students participated in Disaster Day as learners. Learners strongly agreed that this course provided new information or provided clarity on previous training, and they intended to use what they learned, 97.6% and 88.4%, respectively. Conclusions: Medical students’ self-reported confidence of key disaster management concepts including victim triage, tourniquet application, and incident command improved after a simulation-based disaster curriculum. This Disaster Day curriculum provides students the ability to apply concepts learned in the classroom and better understand the real-life difficulties experienced in a resource limited environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2845
Author(s):  
Sara Poveda-Reyes ◽  
Ashwani Kumar Malviya ◽  
Elena García-Jiménez ◽  
Gemma Dolores Molero ◽  
Maria Chiara Leva ◽  
...  

It is well established that the transport sector is not an equalitarian sector. To develop a sustainable society, a more equalitarian and safe transport system for both users and transport sector employees is needed. This work prioritizes the needs and barriers previously identified as relevant among transport system users and employees for four different transport scenarios (railways, autonomous vehicles (AVs), bicycle-sharing services (BSSs), and employment). The aim of this paper is to prioritize the factors affecting women in these four transport scenarios with the help of a survey followed by the application of mathematical and computational algorithms based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology. The identification of factors with higher influence in the fair participation of women in the transport sector will help transport planners, bike-sharing system owners, decision-makers, transport companies, and regulatory professionals to develop measures that could plausibly increase the proportion of women as users of BSSs, users of rail public transport, and AVs, as well as employees in the transport sector for a sustainable society. The results indicated that safety and security were the most challenging factors for railways. Weather, topography, and family responsibilities were shown to have a high influence on the use of BSSs. In the case of autonomous vehicles, the simultaneity and trust in the technology are the main opportunities to influence the acceptance of such vehicles. Finally, for transport employment, caring and parenting responsibilities were the factors that had the largest effect. Some differences in priorities were found for different profiles of women.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6287
Author(s):  
Suyeon Kim ◽  
Sang-Woo Lee ◽  
Se-Rin Park ◽  
Yeeun Shin ◽  
Kyungjin An

It is imperative to develop a methodology to identify river impairment sources, particularly the relative impact of socioeconomic sources, to enhance the efficiency of various river restoration schemes and policies and to have an internal diagnosis system in place. This study, therefore, aims to identify and analyze the relative importance of the socioeconomic factors affecting river ecosystem impairment in South Korea. To achieve this goal, we applied the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to evaluate expert judgement of the relative importance of different socioeconomic factors influencing river ecosystem impairment. Based on a list of socioeconomic factors influencing stream health, an AHP questionnaire was prepared and administered to experts in aquatic ecology. Our analysis reveals that secondary industries form the most significant source of stream ecosystem impairment. Moreover, the most critical socioeconomic factors affecting stream impairment are direct inflow pollution, policy implementation, and industrial wastewater. The results also suggest that the AHP is a rapid and robust approach to assessing the relative importance of different socioeconomic factors that affect river ecosystem health. The results can be used to assist decision makers in focusing on actions to improve river ecosystem health.


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