During the First Palestinian Urban Forum, held at An-Najah National University on 27th- 28th of March 2012, Dr. Jalal Dabbeek - Director of the Urban Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction Center at An-Najah National University and the vice president of National Agency for Disaster Risk Mitigation, presented a special session on safe cities and disaster risk reduction in order to review the basic elements necessary to make cities resilient to disasters.

Discussions were held with representatives from a number of municipalities, local government bodies and institutions working in the field of DRR. Additionally, the participants discussed concepts from the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction UNISDR, Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015, as well as the key principles and concepts of the Arab Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction 2011-2020.

The session also included participation from Mr. Ahmed Riziq - Director General of Civil Defense, Engineer Abdel Hakeem Al-Jouhari, Engineer Mahmoud Abdullah and Engineer Shireen Al-Nather.

The recommendations:

To make cities resilient to disasters there is a need for establishing a Palestinian strategy for disaster risk reduction. This requires the following:

-          Identify and assess all potential risks that might result from disasters and take this into consideration when carrying out land use policies and urban planning processes.

-          Invite municipalities and local government bodies and encourage them to join the World Campaign on Safe Cities, “My City is Getting Ready”, through adopting the Ten Essentials point for making cities resilient; these elements can be applied gradually.

-          Consider the concepts and priorities of Hyogo Framework for Action, the objectives of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, and the standards of the Arab Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction 2011-2020, when carrying out urban planning.

In addition to this, the participants emphasized the following:

-          Activate the role of the High Council of Civil Defense.

-          Adopt a special fund for disasters on the national level.

-          Provide training programs on disasters reduction on all levels and sites (schools, universities and institutions).

-          Organize, develop and control the building and planning laws in such a way as to carry out risk management plans.

-          Control land use policy and create microzonation maps of potential risk sites, the impact of site effect and the production of risk maps for cities.