محمودرضا پیروی

Letter to the Editor

INTRODUCTION: An earthquake is a major natural disaster with widespread and great effects on human life and nature. Taking care of the basic needs of earthquake victims is an essential step that should be addressed immediately. Moreover, the evaluation of various problems after disasters, especially earthquakes, is of crucial importance for the affected people. The management of humanitarian aid and public assistance among these affected people is considered one of the most important post-earthquake concerns. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the post-earthquake challenges and strengths of providing humanitarian aid services in Sisakht, Yasuj, in February 2019. METHODS: This qualitative case study was conducted from March 2019 to July 2020. The studied population consisted of 20 participants including medical staff (n=10), clergy (n=2), crisis managers (n=4), and military personnel (n=4). The required data were collected through observation and semi-structured interviews, which continued until data saturation. To evaluate the reliability of the data, the strategies recommended by Guba were used. The data were analyzed by conventional content analysis based on the method proposed by Graneheim and Lundman. FINDINGS: The advantages and strengths of this study included humanitarian cooperation and coordination, as well as the timely presence of relief and rescue teams and law enforcement agencies from the post-earthquake first hours, which had a great impact on reducing the suffering of people. The challenges in providing post-earthquake services included health, medical, management, geographical, and spatial concerns and issues related to the earthquake victims (relief goods distribution problem and inappropriate information dissemination as the main challenges). CONCLUSION: Effective and appropriate management policies regarding the management of providing post-earthquake services and elimination of the structural and managerial obstacles can improve the operation and management of humanitarian aid.

INTRODUCTION: The importance of safety and prevention of traffic accidents have highlighted the necessity of research and investigation in this field. The present study aimed to identify and eliminate the risk factors underlying the occurrence of inner-city traffic accidents. In so doing, scientific and effective solutions can be provided at the lowest cost to implement the slogan of "prevention is better than cure". METHODS: In this study, the accident rate-severity index method was used to identify traffic accident hotspots. The spatial units in which this index (I) was more than twice the average of the total spatial units were identified as Hot Zones FINDINGS: In the present study, the study area (6,600 meters) was divided into 66 100-meter spatial units. Using the accident rate-severity method, 6 (600 m) and 19 (1900 m) spatial units were identified as Hot Zone (9.1%) and Yellow Zone (28.8%), respectively. Finally, 41 Cold Zone spatial units (62.1%) were identified (4,100 m). CONCLUSION: As evidenced by the obtained results, the following measures can be effective in the reduction of road accidents: retrospection of traffic signs in terms of number, size, location, height, installation of speed bumps in the Hot Zone and Yellow Zone spatial units, timely pruning of trees along the road-construction of underpasses and overpasses in some important points of the route (accident hotspots and Yellow Zone). Furthermore, the development of a comprehensive and long-term educational program to improve traffic safety culture in kindergartens and schools can be effective in reducing road accidents.

INTRODUCTION: Fars is a disaster-prone province which is affected by a myriad of disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, fires, and traffic accidents. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the disaster risk of hospitals in Fars province in 2017. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in 2017. Out of 90 hospitals in Fars province, 51 centers cooperated in the presented study. Six prevalent disasters and crises in Fars province were identified using the recorded incidents in the last 20 years in the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. A book entitled "National tools for the assessment of risks and indicators of specialized competencies of the health sector in response to hazards and disasters (risk map), which was written for the Ministry of Health of Iran in 2014, was used to assess and obtain the risk score. The maximum and minimum risk scores were obtained at 95 and 19, respectively, and the data were analyzed in Excel 2016. FINDINGS: The mean and standard deviation of the obtained scores for different hazards were reported as 56.039±175.785 (earthquake), 45.962 ± 322.17 (seasonal flood), 575.786.195±19.57 (drought), 909.18±686.36 (chemical threats), 47.764±18.066 (human-caused fires), and 50.235±15.709 (power outage). In most hospitals, the risk of earthquakes and the negative impact of drought were higher than other hazards, while the chemical threats obtained the lowest score. CONCLUSION: Since Fars province is a disaster-prone area, the risk assessment should be periodically performed at short intervals to identify hazards with higher risk scores and implement corrective measures in this regard.