The Role of Local Communities on the Performance Development of Disaster Management

After the introduction of sustainable development (SD) theory in the 21st century, urban sustainable development has became a solution to achive sustainable cities. Nowadays, community sustainable development (CSD) with stress on social capital and participation of the communities, wants to reach sustainable development through the goal of ‘Global Thinking, Local Action.’ Therefore, it is essential to use development-based approaches in disaster management to empower the community, decrease people’s vulnerability, are top priorities in any plans and actions. Thus, it seems that community based disaster management (CBDM) is an approach which has all the characteristics stated before. In this descriptive study, the concepts and goals based on of CBDM and defining compliance with the CSD, examples of similar measures and actions in the disaster management system (DMS) in Iran were studied. Finally, a clear image of the approach for implementing it at the community and local level was given. Although there are enough experiences in local communities in DMS in Iran, the actions done are only related to the disaster response phase. To fulfill a complete community-based disaster approach in DMS in Iran, we need to increase the role of people in policy and decision making activities.