At the recent cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an urgent discussion on home front preparations for a major earthquake that is expected to hit Israel in the coming years.
The discussion kicked off a nationwide emergency drill involving rescue forces from the army, police, and medical organizations.
“As part of our efforts and actions to improve home front emergency preparedness, we are beginning today a national earthquake exercise, called ‘Earthquake 2017,'” said Netanyahu. “There are enough earthquakes around us in all senses of the word, but we live adjacent to the Syrian-African rift, and an earthquake can hit at any moment. They already have and they undoubtedly will.”
Should an earthquake hit, the Prime Minister reminded the public that the emergency procedures are quite opposite to those during a missile or terrorist attack.
“In the case of an earthquake, in contrast to other scenarios which threaten the home front, the basic rule is to get out of your homes, get out of buildings. The safest place to be is in open space.”
Originally posted at Israel Today Magazine.
