The Process of Confronting the Earthquake Crisis of 2013 in Shonbeh Town of Booshehr

On April 9, 2013, an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale shook Shonbeh town of Bushehr province. That earthquake was one of the major ones of the early 2010s. After the earthquake, relief forces arrived at the area and began to rescue the people with the help of local forces. Subsequently, the authorities in charge started to plan for emergency and temporary resettlement, and reconstruction. As the study of the crisis management process and methods of this earthquake contain many lessons, this research aims at investigating the crisis management methods and techniques through concentration on emergency and temporary settlement. Accordingly, this research is conducted through participant observation in the earthquake zone and a field study in Shonbeh and interviews with authorities and managers in crisis management. The results revealed that crisis managers in Shonbeh town practiced weakly in preparation, prevention, emergency resettlement statistics, and designing appropriate plans for reconstruction. However, they worked quite well in terms of quick reaction, deployment of machines to the area, providing rescue services and the pace of action in reconstruction. It is suggested that the strong points be reinforced, and the weak points be eliminated.