Evaluation of environmental health expert's knowledge regarding health issues in natural disasters

Natural disasters are always one of the human health threatening factors in the worldwide which Iran provinces including East Azerbaijan are involved. This study aimed to assess awareness of environmental health experts in East Azerbaijan province about health problems during natural disasters. In this descriptive study, 144 environmental health experts were randomly selected and studied in East Azerbaijan province (including 52.1% from all Townships and 47.9% from Tabriz city). Questionnaires distributed among experts after validation by specialists; then the collected data was analyzed using SPSS. According to the results, significant differences were found between the awareness of participants (45/5% experts and 53/5% technician of environmental health) in Tabriz and other Townships of province. Significant differences were also found between the level of education and workplace (P≤ 0/05). No significant difference was found between the age and history of employment in health centers (P≥ 0/05). The results indicate that the effect of education on expert's awareness of environmental health in natural disasters. So, some measures should be taken such as: to promote employees scientific level by training courses or retraining programs; to provide facilities in order to continue their education and recruiting new experts. Thus, these measures can reduce injuries or mortality rate due to lack of awareness of the health issues in natural disasters.