The Role of the Mosque as an Emergency Shelter in Disasters: A Systematic Review

Background: Providing emergency shelter for disaster victims is a part of disaster risk mitigation strategies. International organizations have proposed a framework for appropriate planning and emergency shelter design. These agencies are encouraging local authorities to manage events to use existing structures such as schools, community centers, etc., as emergency shelters for the victims. According to the social religious and spiritual status of mosques in communities, these centers are one of the crucial elements to create a safe and trusted shelter during disasters. This study aims to identify the role of mosques as emergency shelters in disasters. Materials and Methods: This study was a systematic study that searched the words related to the research title (disaster management, emergency shelter, mosque) with AND, OR operators in PubMed, Web of Sciences, Science Direct, and Scopus databases, and the Google scholar search engine, as well as Persian language databases of SID, Magiran, Irandoc, and Iran Medex. A three-step screening process was used to select studies using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews And Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist. Finally, the data were analyzed thematically. Results: Out of a total of 175 articles found, 6 articles were relevant to the purpose of the study and were analyzed. The results of the present study showed that mosques can be suitable shelters for risk management during accidents and disasters. Also, in this regard, a range of strategies for designing programs for public participation and mosques were identified.   Conclusion: The services and the role of mosques in disaster occurrence as a shelter are very effective and these valuable services can be further extended using social capital, attracting the attention of religious institutions, and public participation.