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

Aims: Iran is one of the countries that always faced with the unforeseen eventsand is in danger of all kinds of natural disasters. Since after natural disasters,affected region has the potential of various public health threats, establishingthe environmental health department has been proposed. The aim of this studywas to assess the preparation rate of environmental health operational teamsfrom all around Iran, in facing with crisis of drinking water in disasters.Instrument & Methods: This cross-sectional study was done in 2015 duringthe environmental health emergencies maneuver at Hormozgan Province,Iranand 15 operational teams and 15 assessor teams were selected randomlyfor the study. In order to assess the activities of environmental health teams, achecklist of environmental health was prepared and used. Spearmancorrelation coefficient and Chi square tests were used to analyze the data.Findings: There were no significant differences between operational andassessor teams according to the studied parameters of water crisis (p> 0.05). Alloperational and assessor teams believed that microbial, latour and chemicalsampling were well done (p=0.1). There were significant correlations betweenoperational and assessor teams in general assessment (r=0.607; p=0.017) andall other main parts except tubing design (r=-0.279; p=0.313)Conclusion: The readiness of the operational teams of environmental health isnot desirable in dealing with the crisis of drinking water.

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

Environmental Health [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68004782] , Disasters [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68004190] , Drinking Water [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68060766] , Emergency Preparedness [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68002959]