title: Early Warning System for Disasters within Health Organizations: A Mandatory System for Developing Countries.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Disaster identification and alert systems can be processed in dif-ferent ways. An early warning system is designed to detect impending danger and send appropriate and clear signals to at risk communities and organizations at the right time and in an unambiguous way. This study aimed to determine early warning system for disaster within health organization in Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  This article presents the findings of a mixed-methods study of early warning systems for disaster management within the health organizations in Iran. During the years 2011 to 2012, a sample of 230 health managers was surveyed using a questionnaire and 65 semi-structured interviews were conducted with public health and therapeutic affairs managers who were responsible for disaster management.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A range of problems were identified. Although there is a multi-agency alert system within the health organizations, other indicators of early warning system are not satisfactory. Furthermore, standard messages which are used to alert organizations are not used under the current system.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Some activities such as memorandum of understanding among different stakeholders of disaster response and education of staff and communities could improve the response to disasters within the health organizations.
authors.affiliation: Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Rouhollah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zaboli
authors.affiliation: Health Management and Economics Research center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyedhesam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seyedin
authors.affiliation: Department of Organization Development and Human Capital t, Deputy of Management and Resource Planning, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Zainab
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Malmoon
keywords: Disaster; Disaster management; Early warning; Health organization