Investigating the role of indigenous people in understanding natural hazards and preparedness against them at Zalu Ab Rural district, central district of Rawansar township- Kermanshah province

Background and today, natural disasters are considered as a serious concern in rural areas and the role of citizens in the face of these crises is important. The aim of this paper is to examine the role of citizens in the management of natural hazards in the Zalu Ab rural district of city Rawansar Township.
the study is an applied, quantitative survey in terms of the method and uses questionnaire as the tool of collecting data. The population consisted of 150 villagers in eight villages of the Zalu Ab rural district. The simple random sampling method was also used for selecting samples.
The findings show that public awareness is low on natural hazards. They have great concern about the occurrence of natural hazards and are yet willing to extensive cooperation with public and private institutions. They also know rural housing improvement and use of resistant housing as the suitable strategies to cope with natural hazards.
The results of factor analysis outline the 5 components of the damaging effects of natural hazards, prediction and cope with natural hazards, personal preparedness to cope with natural hazards, knowledge and awareness, training to local people effective in managing natural hazards.