Role of Religious Institutions in Disaster Risk Management: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this systematic review is to analyze the relevant research on religious organizations’ participation in disasters risk management and to understand the ways in which these organizations impact on disaster management. Today, community-based disaster risk management is emphasized as a very effective approach. Religious organizations are one of the most important components of community. They have access to resources that can be critical to help government agencies to manage disasters successfully. Methods: This systematic review was conducted since August 2018 to investigate the role of religious institutions in disasters management and was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. PubMed, Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, Proquest, Embase, and Google scholar were the primary databases used for search of literature. Keywords used in this review were “religious institution,” “disaster management,” and their equivalents were obtained from Mesh, Emtree, or extracted from related articles. The papers from a broad range of disciplines related to keywords were included, and those articles that focus on response to disaster based on religious beliefs’ and religion rather than participation of religious institutions in disaster risk management were excluded. From the 18,071 records identified through database searching in the early stage, 22 articles were selected for this review followed by analysis of the characteristics and content analysis of the included studies to answer the study questions. Results: The findings of this systematic review that emerged from content analysis are summarized in 11 themes: religious institutions’ potential for disaster management, preparedness of religious institutions for disasters, response, recovery, the social capital, partnership with all stakeholders, collaboration and communication between mental health professionals and faith-based organization leaders, unity of information and message, religious institution shelters, dealing with disaster in old and new approaches, and barriers and challenges. Conclusions: Religious institutions have a vital role and great potential in disasters management. They often contribute in response and recovery phases of disasters, although these services are valuable but the great potential of these groups should also be recruited to participate in preparedness and mitigation efforts as part of disasters cycle. Coordination and collaboration of all stakeholders is essential in this way.

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Precancerous Cervical Lesions among Women in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

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Potential of mosques to serve as evacuation shelters for foreign Muslims during disasters: a case study in Gunma, Japan

“…For these reasons, it is suggested that the mosques have the potential to function as evacuation shelters for most of their daily users. Although the roles of faith-based organizations in disasters have received increasing attention (Gaillard and Texier 2010;Bush et al 2015;Sheikhi et al 2020), this study has evaluated the value of minority faith-based organizations in disaster situations. That is, we have determined that religious facilities used by minorities-mosques-can play an important role in reducing the problems faced by minorities during a disaster, such as food and worship.…”

Negotiating Safety and Wellbeing: The Collaboration Between Faith-Based Communities and Public Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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