Haifa to act as model for mass emergency preparations

The committee said Haifa was the biggest city in Israel to have been subjected to sustained missile attacks.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
The Knesset sub-committee for home-front safety has visited Haifa to check the city's readiness for emergencies, reports Yediot Haifa. The committee, headed by Knesset member Prof. Itzhak Ben Israel, said Haifa was the biggest city in Israel to have been subjected to sustained missile attacks (during the 2006 Second Lebanon War) and the committee wanted to learn from its experiences and apply them to the rest of the country. According to the report, mayor Yona Yahav told the committee that as part of the city's preparations for any emergency, it had acquired an advanced vehicle that could act as a central control room, as well as a computerized education system that would enable students to continue their studies from home. Committee members were also shown plans for the treatment of widespread trauma in the case of any mass disaster, be it war, a terrorist attack or a natural catastrophe.