Introduction: Earthquake is one of worst natural disasters that kill many people around the world every year and causes many damages. It imposes not only financial losses, but also social damages to the community. The earthquake is a natural disaster while it has become a sociological issue, which creates vulnerability groups such as relief workers due to this various social effects. However, the present study aims to investigate the social vulnerability of relief workers in the earthquake.
Method: This cross-sectional study was done in two qualitative-quantitative phase. All relief workers were studied in Kerman and East Azerbaijan provinces. In qualitative part, phenomenology research design was performed by using focal groups in order to recognize the social damage of relief workers who experienced an earthquake. Hence, 13 persons were selected through purposive sampling then the social effects of the earthquake were identified. In the quantitative part, 90 relief workers who experienced Bam, Varzaghan, and Ahar earthquakes and 90 people who did not experienced an earthquake peer with the first group were selected. They answered the questions of social isolation, social anomie, and job burnout questionnaires. Data collected and analyzed by SPSS-21 and T-test.
Findings: The findings are as follows: in the qualitative part, social problems caused by earthquake including social anomie, social isolation and job burnout were identified through interviews. In the quantitative part, the average of social anomie in relief workers in the earthquake and other relief workers were 74.46±23.78 and 50/2±22/27 respectively; the mean of social isolation in relief workers who were in the earthquake and other relief workers was 9± 2/63 and 7±2/34. Finally, the mean of job burnout in relief workers in the earthquake and other relief workers were 80/93± 18/91 and 40/03±17/77. In addition, the social anomie, social isolation and job burnout of relief workers whom they were in the region during the earthquake were higher than others (P<0.01)
Conclusion: The results show that the relief workers are one of the social vulnerable groups in the earthquake in addition to anxiety, feeling guilty, depression, and helplessness they will suffer from social problems that have not received much attention.
So, one of the most important necessities should be planning and taking the necessary measures in order to reduce and control such injuries.