Spatial Analysis of Social Resilience of Rural Settlements against Earthquake Risk(Case study: villages of Avaj city)

Environmental hazards, such as earthquakes, cause irreparable damages in rural areas. One of the most important damages is social ones. Social resilience can be used to reduce the damage and destructive effects of earthquakes. The present study is descriptive-analytical in terms of purpose, application and method. In order to collect the required data, two documentary and field methods (questionnaire instrument) have been used. The statistical population of the study is the villages located in Avaj city and the unit of analysis is the heads of households living in the villages. According to the Cochran method, 370 heads have been randomly selected. With the help of villagers and rural managers, after documentary studies, 7 general social indicators and 20 partial indicators in the study area were identified and resilience scores were calculated using the indicators. The results of the study show that the items of unity and cohesion of the local community with an average of 3.76 and the item of educational programs to deal with the occurrence of accidents with an average of 2.11 had the highest and lowest impact on the social resilience of the studied villages, respectively. The villages of Hossein Abad, Shahrbaz and Abdullah Massoud Sofla (0.0149) are in the best and the villages of Milaq, Ek, Yamaq (0.0029) are in the worst level of social resilience. Furthermore, the results of Copras model indicated that 40 villages are in good condition, 24 villages are in medium condition and 38 villages are in unfavorable condition.