Assessment of the Resilience of Schools to Disasters in Kermanshah, Iran in 2020

The effort to reduce harm by adopting risk reduction strategies to establish a safe environment is known as school resilience to disasters. Resilient schools have a good capacity in disasters and their educational mission. Following natural disasters, schools play a critical role in the recovery of society. The study aims to assess the resilience of schools to disasters in Kermanshah, Iran.

This research is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study. A proportionate stratified random sampling strategy was used to select 231 participants from schools in Kermanshah. Total resilience showed the weakest (r = 0.499) and strongest (r = 0.910) correlations with location and function. Data were collected using standard school resilience in disasters questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 22. Statistical tests such as Pearson correlation, independent t-test, and one-way ANOVA were conducted at a significant level of 0.05.

The results showed the X ± SD of the total resilience score (143.61±32.50). The highest and lowest mean scores among the resilience dimensions were assigned to function (43.81± 13.11) and safety (6.59± 3.40) dimensions, respectively. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between total resilience and its dimensions (P <0.001). Total resilience showed the weakest (r = 0.499) and strongest (r = 0.910) correlations with location and function dimensions.

The level of school resilience was determined to be moderate. It can assist the schools’ management board in analyzing the schools’ level of resilience and setting disaster risk reduction priorities. Awareness of the resilience state can aid policymakers and professionals in developing an effective resilience program.