The Knesset Interior Committee and a subcommittee of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee held a joint session Tuesday morning on the dangers of an upcoming earthquake in Israel and ways to deal with them.
The meeting was held in the shadow of warnings by Infrastructures Ministry Steering Committee Chairman Dr. Avi Shapira – “It’s just a matter of time; it will happen” – and even stronger ones by the Association of Contractors and Builders (ACBI).
The ACBI presented a position paper warning of an apocalyptic situation that could result from the next quake to hit Israel. “A million apartments and thousands of public buildings could collapse in the event of a strong earthquake,” according to the ACBI. “The current national plan to reinforce apartment buildings [known as Tama 38] does not help Israel’s preparedness for earthquakes.”
Raoul Serugo, Vice President of ACBI, spelled out the threats: “Tama 38 in its current format is a grave failure that will lead to many deaths, under the direct and complete responsibility of the Planning Administration and the Interior Ministry… A strong quake could lead to tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of homeless.”
The Infrastructures Ministry’s Shapira noted that the most lethal aspect of earthquakes are buildings and the construction deficiencies that lead to their collapse. “An earthquake is not a natural catastrophe, but a man-made one,” he said.
Gidi Greenstein, Director of the Reut Institute, presented a paper outlining seven steps that should be taken to strengthen national and local frameworks in dealing with crises such as earthquakes or war. Reut is an “innovative policy group designed to provide real-time, long-term strategic decision-support to Israeli leaders and decision-makers,” its website states.
The recommended steps include:
- Defining “first responders” and “essential employees,” such as policemen, soldiers, teachers, and others, and imposing upon them the obligation to be ready when needed, according to Home Front Command needs.
- Work contracts with the above must include clauses stating that their above obligations take precedence over their obligations to family in times of emergency. The employees must therefore prepare their families in advance for this eventuality.
- Enabling and obligating certain vital non-profit organizations to continue operating even under emergency conditions.
- Universities, hesder yeshivot, pre-military academies and others must be recruited for crisis-situation help. Insurance for employees who continue to work during crisis conditions.
Earthquakes have occurred in Israel on the average of once every 80 years in recent centuries. Two major earthquakes occurred in Israel during the last two centuries. The first earthquake, in January 1837, killed some 5,000 people, destroyed the city of Tzfat and damaged nearby Arab villages, while the second one, in July 1927, killed between 250 and 500 people, and caused heavy damage in Jericho, Shechem (Nablus), Jerusalem and Hevron. Nearly a year ago, a quake centered in Lebanon was felt in Israel and Syria.