With the daily dangers of armed attack, why is MDA worrying about natural disasters?
Man-made emergencies are not our only threat. Israel, and its neighbours along the Jordan Valley, are all at risk of an earthquake. When it comes, we could see an impact of 120 kilometres diameter around the valley, causing massive damage. We need to be ready for all kinds of emergency.
And why IDRL?
We had two main triggers. The first was the experience of the United States in Hurricane Katrina, which had very public problems managing the many offers of international assistance it received.
The second came in 2010, when Israel suffered our worst ever forest fire, starting on Mount Carmel. It killed more than 40 people and thousands had to be evacuated. For the first time ever, the authorities called for international assistance to fight the disaster. It received offers from over a dozen countries sending airplanes, helicopters and other materials and personnel.
Coordination was very difficult, with some arrangements coming through NATO and some bilaterally. We also had trouble squaring different ways of working, incompatible equipment and language issues. At one point, an Israeli pilot and radio had to be placed in every foreign aircraft. This was our first indicator about how chaotic things might be in a really big disaster. We obviously need a better system.
Is coordination the main issue?
Coordination, yes, but we also need to look to legal and administrative questions. For instance, we have told the authorities that we could bring in medical Emergency Response Units from the Movement to help in a disaster, but the doctors and nurses would not be allowed to work and their equipment and medications might not be authorized. If there is no special visa for them they would not be allowed to work. We also see a big liability risk for IMDA and our sister National Societies.
Since then, we have identified more issues coming from the experience of other countries. Will humanitarians have to pay tax? Can they rent an office? How much bureaucracy will they have to wade through. There are a lot of unanswered questions.
What is IMDA doing about it now?
Using the IDRL Guidelines and the experiences of other countries involved in IDRL, we have approached the various concerned ministries and urged them to start working on the issue now. We have persuaded them to set up an inter-agency steering committee to review existing laws and procedures. A legal framework to address the issue is being reviewed. We are also working with the Ministry of Health on special procedures to ease the entry of foreign medical personnel, medications and equipment in case of a future disaster. We have agreed on a screening procedure to be completed pre disaster, thus the resources (human and material) coming from large and well known organizations will be pre-approved. This procedure will be followed by the relevant administrative orders.