Over the recent years, community resilience has been the center of attention in many theoretical approaches and policies against hazards and creeping environmental changes. However, the issue of how to achieve resilient communities has received less attention. The present study aims to develop a framework for devising strategies in order to improve community resilience, particularly to slow-onset hazards such as drought. Hence, the relevant literature was reviewed in order to establish a conceptual framework. Afterwards, the researchers investigated the framework in the context of two local communities (Barazandeh and Abbas Abad neighborhood) in Iran, i.e., Isfahan, against drought as well as drying up of Zayandehrood River and its aqueducts using a qualitative research design and retroductive strategy. For data gathering, semi-structured in-depth interviews were used and data analysis was performed through qualitative content analysis using ATLAS-ti software. Totally, 32 interviews with authorities, experts, researchers, and other stakeholders were conducted in two local communities of Isfahan. Findings indicated that any policy making regarding community resilience should not be restricted to local community level and should be expanded to multiple scales of local, regional, urban, and national community levels, even considering the two major disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) categories.
Amirzadeh, M; Barakpour, N
Strategies for building community resilience against slow-onset hazards
International Journal Of Disaster Risk Reduction