فصلنامه دانش پیشگیری و مدیریت بحران
سال سوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 8، تابستان 1392)

Educational areas due to their high number of users, obsolescence and structural instabilities have a high vulnerability to earthquakes. Among educational centers universities because of the high number of users and also unique documents and studies such as the student’s thesis are more vulnerable when encountered hazards. In addition to structural instabilities, unstructured disorders and also lack of awareness of university professors, students and staffs about disaster situation and their functions add to the vulnerability of the environment. Hence, in this article, in order to investigate and provide strategies to reduce vulnerability against earthquakes, Faculty of Accounting and Management at Shahid Beheshti University has been chosen as a case of study. This study is descriptive-analytical survey. Research data were gathered from questionnaires of professors, students and staffs and interview with officials in Faculty of Accounting and Management at Shahid Beheshti University. For data analysis quantitative (descriptive and inferential statistics) and qualitative (using SWOT) method was used. Theoretical and practical trainings in form of maneuvering and training classes besides of using structural and nonstructural vulnerability reduction measures play an effective role. Also determine safety places and increase the strength and stability of elements and non-structural extensions play an effective role in reducing vulnerability of the Faculty. In addition to non-structural vulnerability reduction measures in an educational environment, the role of training in preparedness of people for disasters such as earthquake is very important and crucial.

Historical contexts are irreparable resources of societies and are inheritor of valuable traditions; unfortunately buildings of these areas are not worn structures but they had old infrastructures and can’t resist against incidents and natural disasters such as earthquake. Vulnerability of cultural heritage in seismicity areas and risk reduction strategies are management challenges of these communities. Establishment of Qazvin province with a seismicity zone and history of destructive earthquakes there, are emphasized necessity of paying special attention to the subject of risk reduction of historical contexts. This article in addition to reviewing vulnerabilities of Qazvin historical context, discusses risk reduction. Method of this study is descriptive-survey with qualitative approach and consists of documents, observation and interview in 1384-1385.This research is based on a review of national documents, internet search, similar studies in other historical cities and also interviews with experts, academics and local knowers. Statistical population is consisting of 45 people of residents and shopkeepers who systematically randomly selected and all relevant authorities and experts in disaster management which answer questions through questionnaire and in-depth interviews respectively. The international experiences show that immunization of urban landscape in historical contexts can be studied from two perspectives (objective and subjective aspect). In objective aspect, subject of study is using risk reduction methods in visible parts of cities such as walls, hangings, balconies, paintings, urban furniture and etc. While the subjective aspect addresses residents’ decision plan in disaster to escape and quick evacuation and finding safe places. If a combined approach of engineering solutions (hardware) takes with the aim of strengthening of nonstructural components and urban furniture and programming strategies (software) in order to educate and inform people of the historical context of Qazvin, steps would be taken for risk reduction of the historical neighborhood of Qazvin.

Soil erosion, development of urbanization and climate changes will increase vulnerability of urban areas against floods. On the other hand, construction industry plays a significant role in living peacefully with incidents such as floods. Especially in areas with high urban density, living with incidents can consider a high adaptive solution for future problems and issues. This category has led to create ideas and different practical methods that in this article will be mentioning some of them. This study reviews documents, literature and written texts in the field of management, vulnerability reduction and dealing with floods and addresses various aspects of prevention and flood risk reduction and finally provides some practical methods and solutions. The Results classified in four general categories: First, multi-functional defensive methods, second, floating methods and amphibious buildings and third and fourth category are up to date biotechnical and Nano-technological measures which present some examples of these methods here. Generally, there are three implemented strategies to reduce vulnerability to floods: First, defensive strategies against flood, second, strategies related to avoiding flood risk areas (such as displacement which is mostly in the form of urbanism strategies) and the third, strategies related to a peaceful life with accepting flood risk. In this paper with a focus on the first and third strategies, some architectural guidelines were introduced. Remarkably, today in the most flood prone areas all around the world, more attention has been focused on these two main strategies.

After development, the probability of attack on the countries which has critical situation, such as Iran, has increased. Passive defense is an appropriate method in order to reduce vulnerability against nuclear threats. Shelters are one branch of passive defense which in this paper has tried to address different types of shelters as well as the experiences of pioneering countries in this regard. This study reviews domestic papers and documents in addition to those of foreign countries such as Switzerland and uses their experiences, and finally sums up existing documents and studies. This paper discusses necessary rules for constructing a shelter especially in Switzerland and tries to find key points to build a shelter to reduce vulnerability of human settlements against this incident; finally architectural suggestions are made in this regard. According to surveys of sheltering in Switzerland, it can be concluded that to reduce vulnerability of settlements against nuclear incidents, should construct shelters. To build a shelter should pay attention to several factors such as duration of residence, type of attack weapon, type of the materials used in construction, the number of people that are going to live in the shelter and the possibility of its multifunctional; and each of these is used depending on the circumstances.

In recent decade, due to rising in water level and also climate change, hurricanes particularly coastal storms have increased in all areas of the world. Lack of using necessary measures in these areas is one the reasons behind human settlements’ vulnerability. Therefore proposed measures to reduce vulnerability in biological complexes seem essential against this hazard. This study reviews documents and expertise articles about the experiences of other countries in order to deal with storm incidents and analysis of them to learn applied measures for risk reduction and increasing preparedness. Some of the proposed architectural and urban planning measures are effective as structural forms, including the use of shutters, storm watches and storm panels and also coastal armor screen. Storm barriers and harbors are the other implements employed in this category. Another group of measures including the protection of natural habitats and use of it, land use regulations, development of training programs and expand insurance, systematic data collection and establishing warning systems, are effective as management practices and non-structural actions. To prevent or reduce the effects of the storm, taking technical issues on the one hand and disaster management and planning how to deal with incidents caused by storms, on the other hand, are required. Providing appropriate strategies causes reduction in communities’ vulnerability and increases preparedness on disaster management cycle and will also facilitate the controlling and organizing of the situation during and after disasters.

Reviewing the reconstruction after Bam earthquake 2003 in its neighborhood, Dashtoo shows that there is a particular attention to reconstructing residential areas in general and failure to rebuilding of public environment. The purpose of this study, considering the risk reduction approach and urban planning measurements in relation to the incident, is planning for organizing a neighborhood unit in order to create public urban spaces for increasing place dependence. Method of this study is descriptive. Data for initial evaluation was gathered from internet resources, available documents and field survey from interview with 20 people of Dashtoo residents randomly and direct observation of the place in 2012. Lack of medium and long term planning in reconstruction, the need for delivery of residential units in possible minimum time and lack of attention to urban structure and local architectural of Bam in urban design has caused a conflict between objective and subjective imagines. Interview with Bam citizens indicates that the lack of public places for recreation, presence of families and disorders of available spaces has increased more isolation of residents and unwillingness to communicate with newcomers. It is necessary to consider organizing programs and establishing public and multipurpose spaces along with organizing communication network and context programs in order for seismic risk reduction and strengthening cultural and social roots in organizing programs after a disaster.

A persistent problem in the management of response to disasters is the lack of coordination between the various agencies involved. This paper reports a case study of inter-agency co-ordination during the response to a railway accident in the UK.The case study examined two potential sources of difficulty for coordination: first, poorly shared mental models; and, second, a possible conflict between the requirements of distributed decision-making and the nature of individual decision-making. Interviews were conducted with six individuals from three response agencies. Analysis of reported events suggested that inter-agency co-ordination suffered through a widespread difficulty in constructing a reflexive shared mental model; that is, a shared mental representation of the distributed decision-making process itself, and its participant s. This difficulty may be an inherent problem in the flexible development of temporary multi-agency organizations. The analysis focused on a distributed decision over how to transport casualties from an isolated location to hospital. This decision invoked a technique identified here as the progression of multiple options, which contrasts with both recognition-primed and analytical models of individual decision-making. The progression of multiple options appeared to be an effective technique for dealing with uncertainty, but was a further source of difficulty for inter-agency co-ordination.

The description of ‘‘best practices’’ is widely used to improve organizational andprofessional practice. This analysis describes best practices in crisis communication as aform of grounded theoretical approach for improving the effectiveness of crisiscommunication specifically within the context of large publicly-managed crises. Theresults of a panel of crisis communication experts are reviewed. Ten best practices foreffective crisis communication, which were synthesized from this process, are presentedand described.