Prof. Maher Natsheh, President of An-Najah signed the MOU with Mr. Hassan Abu-Alaela, PALDRM’s President. Additional PALDRM delegates present included Miss Shatha Qasrawi, Administrative Assistant of PALDRM. The signing ceremony was also attended by Prof. Abdel Naser Zaid, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Prof. Jalal Dabeek, Director of Urban Planning and Disasters Risk Reduction Center, and Mr. Khaled AL-Hussani, Director of the Public Relations Department at the University.

The MOU seeks to coordinate the efforts between the University and PALDRM to effectively institutionalize the disaster risk management process in Palestine through a system with clear competencies and adequate capabilities. It also seeks to set effective and efficient coordination mechanisms between the two institutions when responding to disasters and sudden-onset emergencies.

Furthermore, the MOU supports the development of contingency, continuity and preparedness plans to deal with emergency situations caused by disasters through continuous collaboration between the two parties.

The MOU also aims at strengthening the cooperation between An-Najah and PALDRM in terms of developing programs and studies on the disaster risk reduction filed, and organizing capacity-building courses on the disaster risk reduction process and system.

Prof. Natsheh mentioned that An-Najah recognizes the importance of using scientific knowledge, research and technology to better understand disaster risk, and the University looked forward to this new initiative with PALDRM. He also briefed the guests on An-Najah’s latest achievements in different fields and the University's societal contributions achieved by the Urban Planning and Disasters Risk Reduction Center at the University.