Effects of Earthquake on Rural Micro Businesses (Case Study: Dena County)

Earthquake as a natural hazard has effects and consequences that can be examined from two dimensions of losses and damages. As a country with a high seismic zoning, Iran suffers from earthquake losses and damages almost every year. The aim of this study was to identify the factors affecting the damage of rural micro-businesses from the earthquake in Dena county.

The study method in this research is based on qualitative method (grounded theory). The information required for this study was collected through semi-structured interviews. The study population consists of small and local business activists affected by the earthquake in Dena city. Preliminary estimates show that 366 rural businesses were directly and indirectly affected by the earthquake. The sample population was determined to extract the categories purposefully and based on the snowball method until the theoretical saturation of the interview with 22 people was reached.

The results were extracted in three stages of open coding, axial coding and selective. In the data extraction stage, 34 concepts were identified in the form of 4 main categories. According to the results, the category of managerial and economic factors has 9 concepts, the category of regulatory and executive factors has 9 concepts, the category of individual and organizational factors has 11 concepts and the category of infrastructure factors has 6 concepts. Among the extracted categories, the categories of individual and organizational factors and managerial and economic factors have more impact than other categories.

According to the findings, the rehabilitation of damaged businesses requires the attention of the responsible organizations to the category of business at the same time as other aspects of reconstruction. The results also showed that the factors affecting the damage to rural businesses can be examined in two groups of intra-environmental and extra-environmental factors.