Mental health preparedness for natural disasters in Iran

Appropriate emergency preparedness and response rely on social, economical, cultural, and political infrastructures, which vary widely according to the level of the development of each country. Mental health damages are among the consequences of absence of such infrastructure, which have not been studied comprehensively till to date. In most countries, planning for natural disasters and earthquakes has been mainly focused on physical and economical impacts; however, lessons learnt from recent earthquakes in Iran and other countries show that psychological impacts need to be considered more seriously. The first responder to an emergency is really the affected community, which consequently should be mentally prepared by appropriate training programs. These should include simple psychosocial interventions developed for people with average level of education in a way to be easily understandable and practicable. After the Bam earthquake, local community volunteers have been selected and trained to provide post-disaster mental health services.