Relationship between Economic and Socio-cultural Resilience of Rural Settlements after Suffering from Earthquake (A case study: Rural Settlements of Silakhor District in Dorud)

INTRODUCTION: Natural disasters in rural settlements are responsible for a broad range of financial and human losses. In this regard, the resilience approach has gained renewed attention to minimize the disruptive impacts of natural catastrophes. Therefore, adequate knowledge about the status of resilience enables us to take efficient measures to reduce resultant injuries and destructive effects. With this background in mind, the current study aimed to investigate the relationship between economic and socio-cultural resilience of rural settlements in Silakhor rural district in Dorud. METHODS: This practical study was conducted based on an analytical-descriptive design. The statistical population included 1539 earthquake-stricken households of Silakhor village (according to household information from the 2016 Census).  Out of this population, 308 families were selected as the sample size using the Cochran's formula. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts, and its reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha method rendering the coefficients of 0.910 and 0.854 for the economic and socio-cultural dimension, respectively. One-Sample T-Test and Pearson correlation were used to examine the status of resilience and the relationship between economic resilience and socio-cultural resilience. FINDINGS: As evidenced by the obtained results, rural settlements were socio-culturally resilient with the mean score of >3, while they were somewhat resilient in the economic dimension with the mean score of nearly 3. CONCLUSION: The results of the Pearson correlation pointed to a positive and significant relationship between economic and social resilience with a correlation coefficient of 0.420 and a significance level of P<0.00.