Old educational buildings that may collapse, dozens of bridges that will collapse and prevent the arrival of rescue forces and essential products, hospitals that are supposed to treat the many wounded but it is doubtful whether they will function, the paralysis of the national highway and hotels that are supposed to receive the survivors.
When the eyes are watching the sights coming from the earthquake in Turkey, which is looking for survivors under the ruins - it is hard to ignore the State Comptroller's report from 2018, which paints an alarming picture of the preparedness of the critical infrastructures in Israel for an earthquake. Five years have passed, and it has mostly gathered dust.
It is doubtful whether the hospitals will function.
A beautiful exercise (archive),
A significant earthquake in Israel is a matter of time, so claim the many experts in the field.
Already five years ago, the state comptroller's office checked the preparation of the infrastructure bodies in the country for earthquakes, and found that the authorities in Israel were indeed not prepared.
The problem is that much of the critical infrastructure, such as water, electricity and transportation, is located in or near earthquake-prone areas.
The meaning is one: damage to the supply of essential and essential services to the population, and disruption to the supply of essential services and products to the economy.
Damage to the ability to move means damage to saving lives (archive), photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Collapse of buildings and educational institutions
The first stage in an earthquake will be the collapse of buildings.
The danger lurks mainly for those who will be in buildings that were built approximately 45 years ago.
If the earthquake occurs in the morning hours, a significant concentration of people will be found in various educational institutions.
The problem is that tens of thousands of students in Israel study in buildings that are not resistant to a strong earthquake.
The Ministry of Education found that there are 1,600 dangerous buildings that require strengthening, and in the State Comptroller's report of 2018 it was written that only about 50 institutions were strengthened. Now, five years later, it seems that there is no significant change: out of the 1,600 buildings - only 230 have been fully treated. That is, Since 2018, only about 180 buildings have been treated.
Now there are about 870 schools that are in various stages of the treatment process - but work has not necessarily started on them, but it may just be a planning process.
According to another alarming figure, there are about 500 buildings that have not been done at all.
Kitab 2 children at Omir school practice the instructions of the Home Front Command (archive), photo: Dodo Greenspan
The Ministry of Education stated: "The handling of strengthening educational institutions against earthquakes is carried out subject to the government's decision on this issue, in stages until the year 2035, in accordance with the budget allocated for this by the Ministry of Finance, and according to the order of priorities.
"Recently, the program was expanded to deal with buildings located in all local authorities in the country, and not only in local authorities located in the seismic zones that are defined as sensitive to earthquakes."
Earthquake drill in schools (archive), photo: Tzachi Miriam
Collapse of bridges and disruption of roads
With the end of an earthquake, the rescue teams - fire and rescue forces, MDA, police and more - are supposed to go out to treat the victims and the chaos that will result, as well as try to save the lives of people trapped under the rubble. Of course, damage to the ability to move and transport means damage to saving lives. Besides , it will be necessary to transport equipment and raw materials for the continued operation of the economy.
The major concern that is being taken into account is that bridges will collapse or be undermined due to damage to the supporting pillars, and even that there may be road disruptions, although the road infrastructure system will not be critically damaged.
According to the auditor's report, about 72 bridges are at high seismic risk levels and were identified as particularly problematic, but only three of them were strengthened.
Emergency exercise at Ramon Airport (archive),
Collapse of the old hospitals
After the wounded are evacuated to the hospitals, their function will be critical in saving lives while treating the existing hospitalized, but some hospitals will not be able to function because they may injure themselves.
The Steering Committee for the Treatment of the Earthquake estimates that buildings used as medical facilities will be damaged due to a collapse, either fully or partially.
Heavy destruction to the point of partial collapse of up to three of the Ziv, Hamek, Poriya, Nahariya, Rambam and Yoseftal hospitals is expected, and it is written that their repair and rehabilitation will not be completed until months or years later.
The Ministry of Health stated: "The first hospitals to be strengthened are Ziv Safed, Bnei Zion and the Rambam Medical Center, and a budget was also given to finance the strengthening of Yoseftal Hospital."
Exercise at Ziv Hospital in Safed (archive), photo: Eyal Margolin/Gini
Collapse of buildings with hazardous materials
The State Comptroller's report found significant difficulty for the Ministry of Environmental Protection to supervise industrial buildings and facilities that hold hazardous materials. Although a mapping of 300 establishments that pose a threat to the population was carried out and it was determined that they would be dealt with - but a lack of authority and a lack of manpower for inspection and enforcement, along with the fact that the establishments were established in buildings Old ones that were not built according to the standard, delay the issue.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection stated: "The Ministry will hold a discussion on the issue within the framework of the Arrangements Law, in order to strengthen the Ministry's supervision of hazardous materials plants in the matter of preparing for earthquakes."
Emergency exercise in Tel Aviv (archive),
Paralysis of the highway and the collapse of the hotels
Israel is known for providing aid and sending air missions to various parts of the world, but the question arises as to what will happen if it itself is forced to receive help.
The fear is that after an earthquake, Israel's airports will have difficulty receiving significant international aid.
The scenario does not predict heavy damage to the port, but there may be damage due to ground subsidence and damage to the control tower and the electronic equipment, and in any case it will be necessary to stop air traffic in the port.
Due to this, it was decided that the Nabatim airport would be used as an alternative to receive wide-body planes with large loads, but at the time the ministries of transportation and defense did not regulate the operation of the alternative airport.
From the home front command exercise in Arad (archive), photo: Oren Cohen
And this is not the only problem: due to the fact that many hotels in Israel are old and close to the fault line, there is a high probability that they will be damaged by a strong earthquake.
Thus the vacationers will also be harmed, and it will not be possible to use the hotels to house survivors who lost their homes.
According to the auditor, the Ministry of Tourism does not have comprehensive information about the hotels in Israel, about their proximity to active replicas and their resistance to an earthquake.
The Airports Authority stated: "In 2019, the construction of the Ramon-Eilat Airport was completed, as a strategic infrastructure for any emergency scenario that may occur in Israel. The runways and parking lots were built based on the arrival of the largest aircraft - the 747 Model 400. The aprons were built for the entire Israeli fleet.
An exercise in the National Academy of Sciences (archive),
"Netzg and Ramon Airport carry out exercises for functional continuity in any reference scenario, including earthquakes.
The auditor's report from 2018 refers to the decision of the Ministries of Transportation and Defense to operate the military airport in Nabatim as an alternative field. The Israel Defense Forces is prepared for any decision of the Ministries of Transportation and Defense when it is received."
Attorney Or Sadan from the movement for freedom of information and the leader of the clinic for freedom of information, said: "Although the recommendations of the State Comptroller are not binding, it is understood that they are of great importance, and we see this now.
It would have been appropriate for the government to update in a proactive and accessible manner on the progress of implementing the recommendations, or alternatively - why it chose not to act in accordance with the recommendations.
It is understood that these things arise when there is a disaster or fear of a disaster, and it would be good if things were resolved and dealt with in real time and transparently."
Students Adir Mored and Omar Yachin, from the Freedom of Information Clinic at the College of Administration, examined the auditor's report on the subject as part of a project of the clinic and the Freedom of Information Movement, and requests for information to examine the implementation will be issued in the coming days in order to provide an accurate infrastructure regarding the status of the report's implementation.
Shimon Yaish, Mittal Yassur Beit-Or and Asaf Golan participated in the preparation of the news
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