Assessing the Readiness of Mashhad City in Facing Natural Hazards with Urban Resilience Approach

One of the major issues facing the present-day population of metropolitan settlements, especially in metropolitan areas, with its high population density and physical density, is the natural and man-made hazards that cause serious damage to their structure in various forms. Natural hazards affect every part of the world in a different ways depending on the geomorphology and demography of that place (Nirupama, Adhikari, & Sheybani, 2014). Because natural disasters are unexpected in terms of shape, size, and location, they cannot be prevented. Therefore, the capacity of a system to increase resilience and recovery in the face of natural disasters should increase (Zhou, Wang, Wan, & Jia, 2009).Reducing the disaster risk is an investment at an effective cost in preventing future casualties and managing disaster risk according to sustainable development (UNISDR, 2015). The main solution that various scholars have to admit is to make cities more resilient in dealing with disasters, and assessing the resilience of cities is the first step in this direction.The beginning of the global movement for resilience of communities can be attributed to the Higgo International Conference (2005). The meeting, which aimed to develop a framework for reducing the vulnerability of communities to natural hazards, mentions actions in the context of resilience, stating that the use of knowledge, innovation and education to build a safety and resilience culture at all levels is essential. This important role in the sustainability and reducing the vulnerability of societies in the dangers and in the definition of resilience. The potential capacity of a system, community, or society to face upside risks to adaptation by resistance or change to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of performance and structure depends on the extent to which the social system is able to organize itself in order to increase its capacity and learning from past disasters in the direction of a better future and improving risk reduction measures (United Nations, 2005). The current research aims to identify the current situation of Mashhad metropolis in terms of readiness facing natural hazards using urban resilience approach. Mashhad is the second city of Iran after the capital (Tehran) with population of around 3.3 million based on 1395 census.

Progressive research is conducted quantitatively based on the indicators of the 100 resilient cities, and by using library and documentary studies and completing the questionnaire by experts in the field of natural disasters and natural hazards. The study population was the experts who was aware of the structure of urban system and also urban crisis structure and who were also aware of the degree of vulnerability of the city when facing natural hazards.  The sampling method was used to complete the questionnaires randomly. According to the number of experts in this field, 41 samples were selected based on the Cochran formula. Analysis of the findings was done using tests such as Cronbach's alpha for reliability and T- A single-sample test was performed in SPSS software to measure the degree of readiness of Mashhad in terms of its resiliency and the plotting of the radar chart was performed by Excel software to see if there was a significant and meaningful difference between current and desired status.

To measure the resilience of Mashhad based on the target community's response, one-sample T-test was used for normal data. The results indicate that the research hypothesis is based on the resilience of Mashhad city against natural and earthquake hazards. It can be seen that at the error level of 5% and with test criterion 3, the hypothesis of the test is confirmed with a value less than 0.05; that is, in general, in none of the dimensions of Mashhad city resilience was not found. The research hypothesis is approved in the proponents. Also, there was a difference found between the desired situation of Mashhad and the status in terms of resiliency.

The research confirms the hypothesis of non-resiliency of Mashhad city against natural hazards, including large-scale earthquakes. Despite the novelty of the research in terms of the level and area of measurement, as well as the conceptual model and how it evaluates that, there is a significant difference with other studies in this field. This research investigates theories and findings of other researchers such as Nasr Abadi ,H. & Kharazmi, O. A., & Rahnama, M. R.(2016). and confirm that Mashhad is not resilient in the social, economic, institutional, and physical dimension.The structural weakness of Mashhad city's urban management complex in controlling and managing natural disasters and efforts to rehabilitate and rehabilitate the city and the inability to provide services, livelihoods and employment after a large scale and destructive earthquake is the biggest problem in Mashhad. Managing the situation appropriately and raising awareness among citizens about how to deal with natural disasters is a good solution to adjust and eliminate problems. There is a need to train citizens regarding their readiness over natural hazards and also there is a need to make different regions of Mashhad metropolis consistent with these kind of activities. There are many rural areas very attached and close to metropolitan area of the city and urgent actions are required to reduce the degree of vulnerability of the city in this regard. It is recommended that different stakeholders should be integrated in this issue. Different job descriptions are available for organizations which are sometimes in contradiction and waste resources and time. Therefore, there is a need to make these organizations informed and put them in line with urban resilient integrated policy. This can reduce the degree of overlap and can make their efforts more valuable and effective.