مهدی کاظمی

INTRODUCTION: Natural disasters disrupt people's lives, bringing about serious economic and social losses. Disaster risk management is a set of measures, including planning, decision-making, accountability, and operational activities at all levels. Moreover, it is of considerable significance to take advantage of social capacities and community participation before, during, and after disasters. The present study aimed to explain the prerequisites of community-based disaster risk management in Iran in 2020. METHODS: This data-driven qualitative study was conducted using Strauss and Corbin's systematic approach. The statistical population included all disaster management experts and non-governmental organizations in universities, the National Disaster Management Organization, the provincial disaster management departments, and senior managers of the Red Crescent Society. Out of this population, 22 subjects were purposefully selected via snowball sampling taking into account the geographical, climatic, cultural, social, and religious diversity of different regions of the country. The data were collected via semi-structured interviews and analysed using open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. FINDINGS: Based on the obtained results, the prerequisites of community-based disaster risk management include: "legal obligation", "public sensitization", "strategic planning", "public participation", "social capacity building", " building cohesion and empathy ", "action (prevention, preparedness, needs assessment, planning, and response", "formation and development of expert teams", "logistics forecasting and equipment", "preparation", and attention to geographical conditions"." CONCLUSION: As evidenced by the obtained results, the required measures for the successful implementation INTRODUCTION: Natural disasters disrupt people's lives, bringing about serious economic and social losses. Disaster risk management is a set of measures, including planning, decision-making, accountability, and operational activities at all levels. Moreover, it is of considerable significance to take advantage of social capacities and community participation before, during, and after disasters. The present study aimed to explain the prerequisites of community-based disaster risk management in Iran in 2020. METHODS: This data-driven qualitative study was conducted using Strauss and Corbin's systematic approach. The statistical population included all disaster management experts and non-governmental organizations in universities, the National Disaster Management Organization, the provincial disaster management departments, and senior managers of the Red Crescent Society. Out of this population, 22 subjects were purposefully selected via snowball sampling taking into account the geographical, climatic, cultural, social, and religious diversity of different regions of the country. The data were collected via semi-structured interviews and analysed using open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. FINDINGS: Based on the obtained results, the prerequisites of community-based disaster risk management include: "legal obligation", "public sensitization", "strategic planning", "public participation", "social capacity building", " building cohesion and empathy ", "action (prevention, preparedness, needs assessment, planning, and response", "formation and development of expert teams", "logistics forecasting and equipment", "preparation", and attention to geographical conditions". CONCLUSION: As evidenced by the obtained results, the required measures for the successful implementation of community-based disaster risk management can be assigned to two categories: The first one encompasses the measures that require structural changes and law reform and are taken at the national level and National Disaster Management Organization of the country. The second type of measure must be implemented at the local and operational management levels. of community-based disast

INTRODUCTION: The increase in the number of natural disasters has made different societies constantly discover and invent solutions to control the adverse effects of disasters with more emphasis on prevention or minimize them by improving the quality of the rescue process (in the response phase). In the last few decades, the need for social participation in order to manage risks has been developing in the form of community-based activities. This study was conducted to present a community-based crisis management model focusing on the process of relief and rescue in natural disasters in Iran, 2020. METHODS: This qualitative study was performed based on the grounded theory method defined by Strauss and Corbin. The statistical population of the study included all crisis management and non-governmental organizations experts in universities, the Crisis Management Organization, general managers of provincial crisis management, and senior managers of the Red Crescent Society. The samples were selected using the purposive and theoretical method of snowball sampling while taking into account the geographical, climatic, cultural, social, and religious diversity of different regions of the country. As a result, the sample size was obtained at 22 people. The required data were collected through a semi-structured interview. In the analysis of qualitative information, open coding, axial coding, and selective coding were used manually). FINDINGS: The results of the study showed that the causal conditions of community-based crisis management included "legal obligation", "strategic planning", "attracting public participation", "forming and developing expert teams", and "acting (prevention, preparedness, needs analysis, planning, and response)"; and contextual conditions consisted of "geographical conditions", "social capacity building", and "creating cohesion and empathy". Moreover, intervening conditions involved "general sensitization", "preparation", and "logistics and equipment"; strategies included "risk management", "human resource management", "training (general and professional)" and "barrier removal"; and the consequences of community-based crisis management consisted of "increasing public awareness in the face of emergencies", "reducing the risk of areas "increasing community resilience", "improving the quality of post-disaster assessment", "accelerating the response process", "determining priorities appropriately", "saving the golden time of rescue", "increasing the number of survivors", "accelerating relief operations" "distributing relief items fairly", "improving the quality of rescue operations", "decreasing the amount of damage", "managing resources and facilities properly", "reducing response costs", "decreasing the adverse psychological effects of the disaster", "organized presence of grassroots groups", "eliminating the shortcomings and completing the performance of the responsible agencies", and "increasing the level of public satisfaction". CONCLUSION: Community-based crisis management is a new and effective approach that its implementation has a positive impact on increasing resilience and thus reducing the vulnerability of communities. The proper and successful implementation of the community-based approach requires structural changes, amendment of laws, and development of relevant bylaws. It also needs measures that should be implemented at the national level, in the country's crisis management system, and at the local level.