Bam, Iran, Earthquake Experiences, Life Suddenly Collapse in a Few Seconds: A Qualitative Study

Since Iran is accident-prone, paying attention to the issue of crisis, particularly earthquake, is very important. On Friday, December 26, 2003 at 5:26 a.m., a devastating earthquake converted Bam City, Iran, and its surrounding villages to the mound of soil. In this study, we surveyed the impact of the earthquake on the lives of people who experienced earthquake. Because the knowledge of prevention, preparedness, and appropriate response for earthquakes and other disasters can be achieved only through the experiences of people who had a perception of these disasters.
This article was part of a content analysis qualitative study conducted from December to March, 2015 in the Bam city. Purposeful sampling method used and continued until code completion and data saturation. To collect the data semi-structured interviews were used.
Of 10 participants in this study, 50% (5 participants) were women and 50% (5 participants) were men. Mean age of participants was 39.70 ± 13.07 years. The mean duration of the interviews was
51.30 ± 10.86 minutes. One of the main themes emerging from the interviews was “the sudden collapse of life in a few seconds”.
Based on interviews, the essence of life suddenly collapse was achieved. It represents the value of qualitative studies on understanding problems of victims and survivors of natural disasters, especially earthquake. It is hoped that real aspects of the crisis on the lives of survivors be achieved and used in planning timely and accurate crisis management based on the real needs of injured people.