Dr. Jalal Dabbeek

On the occasion of the International Day for Disaster Reduction which is celebrated on the 13^th of October every year, and based on my review of the experience of the Palestinian society in this regard as well as the points of strength and weakness in this experience, I see that despite the huge efforts made by the bodies working in the field of knowledge, studies, public awareness and capacity building, the degree of commitment to the concept, standards and work mechanism of the disaster risk reduction system by the governmental and non-governmental executive institutions has been very limited.

It is known that Palestine and most of the Arab countries may be subject to different natural hazards in the future especially in light of the increased vulnerability of buildings, infrastructure and key constructions to disasters, as well as the points of weakness found in the governmental and non-governmental institutions’ response to emergency situations.

As a result of this, risks and losses are highly possible even if the severity of a potential disaster is classified as mild or relatively strong based on the international scientific standards. And in case of seismic hazards, the resulted risks are expected to be huge which would mean that if there are no clear national policies that consider disasters as a national priority the Palestinian society and its institutions will be negatively affected by these events for many year ahead.

The seismic studies that have been conducted in Palestine and the neighboring countries (countries that are located on the Asian-African Rift Valley) that the region has been subject to several destructive earthquakes over the course of history. The majority of these studies also predicted that Palestine and the neighboring countries would be subject to earthquakes with a 6 to 7- magnitude on Richter Scale in the future.

In an attempt to reduce the potential risks that these earthquakes might cause, the Seismic Engineering Unit at the Urban Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction Center at An-Najah National University implemented a number of studies including:

-          Seismic Hazard Map and the Seismic Building Code.

-          Vulnerability and the expected seismic behavior of the common buildings’ pattern in Palestine.

-          Site effect on the seismic behavior of buildings in some of the Palestinian cities.

-          Measuring the level of awareness of the Palestinian individual regarding seismic hazards.

-          Measuring the level of awareness of the Palestinian engineer regarding the requirements and principles of the seismic design and execution of buildings in Palestine.

Beside the abovementioned studies, and in the context of the current work on building the Palestinian society’s resilience to disasters, a large number of activities and events in the field of public awareness have been carried out in cooperation with the related local, regional and international institutions, along with media coverage. However, the national level-disaster risk reduction programs and systems in their extensive definition have been far from the desired level.

An important thing to say here is that most governmental and non-governmental institutions still think today that disaster risk reduction means building the country’s capacity with respect to response to emergency situations only such as first aid, rescue operations and disaster management, while ignoring the fact that this concept also covers preventive measures that guarantee the protection of buildings from collapse and potential damage that might result from an earthquake.

Buildings can be protected through designing and constructing them to be resilient to different types of disasters, by building them on suitable land according to the extensive national land use policies (known as permanent investment or sustainable development). It is also important to develop knowledge on all levels which includes social awareness programs and the development of capacities in the field of threat detection and the evaluation of consequent risks.

To be fair, through our follow-up on the work of some of the institutions that operate in the field of emergency response, the Civil Defense in Palestine has shown clear development and a huge transformation over the last five years, and it is hoped that the government would continue to consider the development of this sector’s human and materialistic potentials.

Regarding the Palestinian governmental and non-governmental health organizations it is clear that these institutions have attained very good experience in dealing with different emergency situations especially after the second Intifada (Uprising). However, we can not consider the current potentials of the governmental and non-governmental institutions that work in the field of emergency response as enough or meeting the international requirements.

Much work is needed in this regard especially that the Palestinian case is a unique one as the Palestinian people is under occupation which adds extra problems to the existing ones. The Israeli occupation is considered an external obstacle added to the internal ones which makes dealing with possible disasters even more difficult. This will also make Palestine among the most affected countries in case a major earthquake (with 6-7 magnitude) strikes whose epicenter is located in the Dead Sea, Al-Gour, Tiberias or Galilee, and in this case the neighboring countries will be busy trying to recover from the earthquake which would make providing aids to the other countries very difficult or in the best cases, to arrive late.

Another fact that adds to the problem is the absence of any Palestinian authority or sovereignty on many of the lands in Palestine which translates into absence of national airports. Consequently, this would mean that receiving aids from outside the country would be very difficult as the borders are controlled by the occupation. The Palestinians also do not have a national army or any other preparations including helicopters and rescue measures; therefore, the Palestinian governmental and non-governmental institutions must adopt special procedures in order to reduce the negative impacts of a disaster. A special case requires special treatment and preparation; therefore, an extensive national strategy for disaster risk reduction must be adopted which is based on the international concepts and frameworks and the Palestinian points of strength.

The first step in this respect should be the adoption of the idea of disasters as a national priority that is established on a solid institutional platform. This includes setting executive laws, regulations and mechanisms, as well as identifying the tasks and responsibilities of the related institutions so as to make sure that all governmental and non-governmental institutions work together in harmony and integrity. In other words, to have these institutions commit themselves to the standards of “Good Governance” when it comes to dealing with disasters.

In the context of good governance, a recent step was taken in the last few months that included signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the Palestinian Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, the Palestinian Engineering Association and the Seismic Engineering Center at An-Najah National University to adopt and apply the Jordanian Building Code to design earthquake-proof buildings or the unified Arab code.

It is expected that during the coming weeks the required legal procedures that are related to the building systems in Palestine will be completed, and that preparation courses that aim to develop the potentials of the staff working in the field of building and construction will be launched soon through coordination between the Engineering Association and the Seismic Engineering Unit at An-Najah.

Based on the importance of building the capacities of the Palestinian society and institutions to deal with disasters according to an integrated strategy that integrates the concepts of disaster reduction into sustainable development programs, based on the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015, and in light of the current points of strength and weakness in the Palestinian society, the following measures must be adopted:

1-      Good governance which means considering disasters as a national priority that is established on a solid, executable institutional platform. It also means reinforcing commitment to an integrated approach to disaster reduction in the different sectors.

2-      Building the capacities required to detect and identify risks and evaluating the resulting impacts of a certain disaster.

3-      Building capacities to deal with disasters through knowledge, research, awareness programs, training and preparation courses for planning and engineering experts, as well as the contribution of media and educational curricula to disaster risk reduction programs.

4-      Improving accountability regarding disaster risk management both on the local and national levels, and reducing factors of main risks which includes designing earthquake-proof buildings, and controlling land use policy to avoid building on areas that are characterized by seismic amplification, landslides, valleys and others.

5-      Including the disaster risk reduction into plans and operations of emergency response, preparation and recovery.

*Director of the Urban Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction Center at An- Najah National University and the Vice President of the National Agency for Disaster Risk Mitigation in Palestine.