Natural Disasters Preparedness Level of Health Service Centers: A Case Study of Dashti City

The health service centers should have the ability to protect people while facing a natural or man-made disaster and present appropriate performance in disasters.

The current study was designed aiming at studying the performance, structural, and non-structural preparedness level of health service centers of Dashti city in Bushehr province.

This study was performed in 2018. The data collection tool was the standard observational checklist of the world health organization. Sampling was done using a census method to study all health service centers. The data were analyzed with Excel software and descriptive statistics were calculated.

In terms of the performance and preparedness, the investigated health service centers obtained a total score of 39.40, which showed the poor level of preparedness. In terms of structural preparedness, a total score of 77.57 was measured that showed the health service centers were at a good level of structural preparedness. The score of 56.59 for non-structural preparedness revealed a moderate level of non-structural preparedness.

The investigated health service centers in terms of performance were in a poor situation. In terms of the structural dimension, due to improvements accomplished in two recent years, the investigated centers were in a good level of preparedness; but, in terms of the non-structural elements, they were placed in the moderate level. Thus, strategic planning and promotion of health service centers’ preparedness are necessary