Iranian Journal of

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Background and Objective: On 26 December 2003, an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale struck the city of Bam and the surrounding villages. This study was conducted to determine the needs of the affected population on the 19th and 20th days after the quake to help with the prioritization of relief activities and efficient resource allocation.
Materials and Methods: Following a feasibility study on 10 Jan 2004, a team consisting of volunteer students of School of Public Health at KUMS was assembled and trained. Each of the 8 groups consisted of 3-4 students with at least 1 man responsible for security on the field. On the 13th and 14th of January, using a cross-sectional design, 60 clusters including 420 households, 7 households in each cluster, were studied based on a Cluster Geographic-Based Sampling (GBS) Plan.
Results: Fifty-five households (13.1%) had children < 2 years, 81 (19.3 %) had children aged 2-5 years and 68 (16.2 %) contained people more than 65 years old. Thirty-seven households (8.9%, CI 95%: 6.4-11.7%) had changed their residence in Bam from one zone to another the main reason for this was poor environmental health conditions (85%). The main source of health and social messages for families was word of mouth 284 (67.6%). The most commonly needed items were bathrooms (73.8 %, CI 95%: 68.9-78.7%), food (68.8 %, CI 95%: 62.6-75.0%) and warm clothes (67.4 %, CI 95%: 60.9-73.8%). The most frequent illness was acute respiratory infection (59.8 %, CI 95%: 54.3-65.2%). Two hundred households (47.6%, CI 95%: 42.6-52.6%) complained of difficulties in obtaining health and medical services. The main barrier to access was transportation problems due to long distance (38.1%, CI 95%: 35.6-40.6%). 

Conclusion: We conclude that relief operations should be continued to provide basic public health facilities. Active delivery of health and medical services should be strengthened, and problems related to reproductive health should not be ignored. The GBS plan is a useful tool in the post-disaster surveys. Using volunteer university students was a rewarding experience and teaching and application of "Disaster Epidemiology" should be improved in this country.

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Background and Objectives: On 12 November 2017, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter scale occurred in Kermanshah Province. Explaining the challenges and needs of the victims in such circumstances can be an important source of information for future planning and better management of such conditions. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explain the challenges and needs of the earthquake victims.
 
Methods: This study was a qualitative study. Twenty-nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers, policymakers, and health and emergency relief providers in earthquake areas, and 10 focused group discussions were held with earthquake victims from December to February 2016. The data were analyzed using conventional content analysis.
 
Results: The needs and challenges in Kermanshah earthquake were classified into three periods after the earthquake: 1. Challenges and needs in the first few days with three sub-categories including management, rescue services, and urgent care, 2- Challenges and needs in the first few weeks  after the earthquake with three sub-categories including housing and emergency assistance, public health services, and access to health care; and 3. Needs and challenges in several months after the earthquake with four sub-categories including economic, social, infrastructural and health service needs.
 
Conclusion: Lack of unity of command was the main challenge in this earthquake. Another point was the health needs of victim earthquakes over time. Therefore, dispatching of aid forces to the affected areas during natural disasters should be based on planning and needs.