Preparation Rate of Environmental Health Operational Teams in Facing with Crisis of Drinking Water in Disasters

Abstract

Abstract Aims: Iran is one of the countries that always faced with the unforeseen events and is in danger of all kinds of natural disasters. Since after natural disasters, affected region has the potential of various public health threats, establishing the environmental health department has been proposed. The aim of this study was to assess the preparation rate of environmental health operational teams from all around Iran, in facing with crisis of drinking water in disasters. Instrument & Methods: This cross-sectional study was done in 2015 during the environmental health emergencies maneuver at Hormozgan Province, Iranand 15 operational teams and 15 assessor teams were selected randomly for the study. In order to assess the activities of environmental health teams, a checklist of environmental health was prepared and used. Spearman correlation coefficient and Chi square tests were used to analyze the data. Findings: There were no significant differences between operational and assessor teams according to the studied parameters of water crisis (p>0.05). All operational and assessor teams believed that microbial, latour and chemical sampling were well done (p=0.1). There were significant correlations between operational and assessor teams in general assessment (r=0.607; p=0.017) and all other main parts except tubing design (r=-0.279; p=0.313) Conclusion: The readiness of the operational teams of environmental health is not desirable in dealing with the crisis of drinking water.

Keywords

• Environmental Health
• Disasters
• Drinking Water
• Emergency Preparedness