Resilience Analysis of Rural Settlements against Drought RisksCase Study: Villages of Kavar City, Fars Province

The widespread effects of drought on the social and economic people life are considered as one of the challenges facing human societies. The present study sought to determine and measure the household resilience in the Kavar city in Fars province by means of a capital approach. In this study, the resilience of society in the face of economic, social, environmental, infrastructure, structural and physical damage were investigated. The required data (52 variables in the desired dimensions) have been collected based on exploratory method and questionnaire. The statistical population includes 198 people from the local elite, including villagers, the Islamic Council and local trustees.The samples are living in Kavar city of Fars province, using Cochran method 131 farmers were selected as a statistical sample. The data were analyzed using one-sample t-test as well as regression and correlation coefficient analytic techniques in SPSS21 software. The results of capital prioritization in terms of average scores showed that physical, social, environmental, economic and infrastructure capitals have the highest to lowest priority in the resilience of the region against drought disasters. The economic factor has a greater impact on drought resilience. The social and structural-physical factors have also, however, had a positive impact on the ability of the community to deal with drought, leading to some improvement in resilience. Therefore, the more sources of income, access to land and water and benefit from credits, then the resilience of households against drought and the capacity to adapt to it will be higher. It is also recommended to improve the resilience of the region against drought through improved education, awareness, proper early warning, stronger social relations and diversification of income sources.