Assessing the Status and Analysis of Factors Affecting the Desirability of Crisis Management of Environmental Hazards in Ghaenat City

The continuation of natural hazards and the vulnerability of the city of Ghaenat has caused these hazards to become disastrous every year, given that management status has a significant role in controlling and transforming natural hazards into crises. In this regard, it is necessary to consider and analyze the situation of crisis management of the city on the one hand, and the factors affecting their performance status on the other hand.

To improve the situation of crisis management and reduce vulnerability by moving towards new management of natural disasters.
Research

The research was an applied one based on a descriptive-analytical method. The approach of this research was quantitative-qualitative, which, accordingly, after collecting the theoretical content by documentary method and developing indices and optimal crisis management variables, 100 structured questionnaires were distributed among academic experts, NGOs, rural dignitaries, informers and managers of government agencies related to control and crisis management who were selected based on purposive sampling. The current status of city crisis management, based on their knowledge, skills and performance status, was assessed through one-sample t-test. Subsequently, through purposeful semi-structured interviews with 26 members of these groups, the causes and factors affecting this situation were identified by open coding and then distributed among the members of the mentioned groups (100 persons) by the factor analysis method. These factors were confirmed by the method. The face and content validity of the distributed questionnaires were confirmed by the pre-test and experts’ approval. The construct validity was confirmed by factor analysis and reliability test by the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.71.

The situation of crisis management in Ghaenat city with an average value of 2.67 was not satisfactory. The causes of this situation were four main factors of weakness in planning, implementation and supervision of city crisis management, social deficiencies, weakness in legislation and policy, and weakness in education and practical skills which were summarized based on 32 indicators. Correspondingly, crisis management of the environmental hazards in the region was based on a traditional approach (passive, reactive, specialist, non-participatory, emphasis on relief and recovery).
Innovation: A structural and comprehensive approach to identify factors influencing the regional crisis management situation and to demonstrate the role of inefficient management and social failures in increasing vulnerability to crises.