Damascus-SANA
The Council of Ministers approved, during its session today, chaired by Engineer Hussein Arnous, the national action plan according to the short, medium and long terms, to deal with the repercussions and effects of the earthquake in the various family, residential, service and development sectors, and to seek to secure the needs of those affected, and mechanisms to restore economic and social activity to the affected areas, according to programs. And specific time periods, directing all the capabilities of the state to achieve this goal.
The Prime Minister stressed the need to coordinate with all national partners from the business sector, civil associations, trade unions, federations and the local community, to follow up on the national plan, as well as completing the preparation of draft legal instruments required to be approved and put into practice in the next stage, in a way that contributes to dealing and responding as best as possible with the repercussions of disaster that befell the country.
Engineer Arnous explained that the state is studying all options to compensate those affected, pointing out that the damage that occurred as a result of the earthquake is very large and affects various sectors and thousands of buildings, between (collapsed, ramshackle, and cracked). The most appropriate formulas that contribute to facing the repercussions of this disaster that afflicted tens of thousands of families in the affected areas.
The national plan submitted by the ministerial committees included (services and infrastructure, human and economic development, resources and energy).. Supporting livelihoods and basic services in the affected areas and securing the needs of affected families on a regular basis, and continuing to complete data collection to build an integrated base and update it continuously according to the size and nature Damage, as well as updating the list of needs from brotherly and friendly countries and organizations, and expediting the completion of the work of the formed teams to determine the crumbling structure and immediate treatment in light of the results of the assessment, and preparing a spatial damage map for the affected areas at the regional level.
In its plan, the Council emphasized the continuation of ensuring that subsidies and aid reach those who are entitled to it according to specific procedures, and through sub-committees for relief in the governorates, and the issuance of temporary identification documents instead of damaged ones until the completion of the issuance of permanent documents for the affected families, and follow-up assessment of the current reality of dams and the rehabilitation of schools, hospitals, water and sewage networks. health, electricity and communications, and immediate treatment of damage to roads, retaining walls and vital centers in any area after being evaluated by the structural safety committees, and cooperation with international organizations to rehabilitate the centers to be maintained and rehabilitated.
The plan also included giving priority to public construction companies in implementing projects to rehabilitate damaged infrastructure and work on building fast-established housing complexes, in addition to securing temporary housing as an alternative to shelters of a service nature, to restore them to the service they were providing.
The plan stressed the activation of emergency plans, disaster management and civil defense, securing their requirements, giving priority to qualifying cadres to deal with them, following up on psychological support teams to communicate with children to help them overcome the effects of the crisis, and ensuring special protection for women and children who have lost their families.
In the context of the proposed scenarios for securing housing for those whose homes collapsed as a result of the earthquake, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing was tasked with securing residences and alternative and temporary housing in each of the governorates of Aleppo and Lattakia, where two sites were chosen to implement a number of buildings in the two governorates, and it was emphasized that public construction companies would implement at the full speed possible.
The ministers presented a set of proposals to deal with the repercussions of the earthquake, each in the field of work of his ministry, as it was agreed to study them in a broader and detailed manner, so that the necessary decisions regarding them will be taken at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers.