School Resilience Components in Disasters and Emergencies: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Schools have many roles and capacities before and after disasters. Resilience plays an important role in maintaining schools’ performance after disasters. This study systematically reviewed the literature to identify the components of school resilience in emergencies and disasters. Methods: In this study, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases were systematically searched using “resilience”, “risk”, “disaster”, “emergency” and “school” as keywords. In total, 8,053 studies were reviewed in several stages and eventually, 26 articles were selected. Other articles were excluded due to the lack of inclusion criteria or being irrelevant. Five other articles were included in the study by reviewing the references. Finally, 31 relevant articles were analyzed. The quality of the articles was assessed based on the PRISMA checklist. Results: The evaluation of articles based on content analysis resulted in the emergence of 4 themes, 11 subthemes, and 99 codes. The themes included structural factors, non-structural factors, functional-process factors, and facilities. The subthemes included building standards, school environment, physical safety of the building, equipment and facilities, safety and retrofit of non-structural components, infrastructures, communication (internal and external), education, management, health, and human-financial resources. Conclusions: The factors and dimensions affecting the resilience of schools were recognized. Different dimensions should be considered to increase the school’s ability, and maintain its performance and appropriate response to disasters. The determined indices can be used by policy- and decision-makers when confronting emergencies and disasters to assess the resilience of schools against the risks.