Nine years after the stark failures revealed in the Second Lebanon War in home front preparations for emergencies, State Comptroller Judge (ret.) Joseph Shapira today stated that severe defects remained in the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), currently under the responsibility of the Ministry of Defense.
Shapira said that NEMA had no authority to enforce its instructions on government ministries and the relevant agencies on the home front. In other words, NEMA can only recommend; it has no enforcement authority.
NEMA responded, "Since it was returned to the Ministry of Defense in June 2014, NEMA, together with the Home Front Command, has arranged the distribution of authority among the national agencies responsible for the home front. This authority will be established in a home front bill that will give NEMA proper authority vis-a-vis the government ministries, the local authorities, and the various agencies operating on the home front in both routine times and emergencies.
"At the same time, NEMA has played a leading role in formulating a new home front reference scenario, which will be brought this week to the Minister of Defense for approval. The principles involved were recently implemented by all the government ministries and emergency agencies in the Turning Point 15 national home front drill. Based on this reference scenario, a multi-year (2016-2020) work plan is currently being devised for home front readiness, with a designated budget to be brought to the Minister of Defense and the cabinet for approval.
"We emphasize that a significant change has taken place in recent years with respect to readiness for emergency situations in the local authorities, including weather events, and the Ministry of Defense has invested, and is investing, tens of millions of shekels in upgrading the centers for operations, drills, and training in most of the authorities in Israel."
Civilian industry is unprepared for an emergency
Despite the growing reliance of the electricity sector and Israeli industry on natural gas, no legal regulations have been issued for keeping workers essential for a supply of gas at their positions during an emergency. The workers involved are not permanent residents in Israel, and are employed at the facilities of Noble Energy.
The State Comptroller's report on the preparations by civilian industry for an emergency indicates that in wartime, an unexpected exceptional weather-caused emergency event, or an earthquake, government ministries will not have the authority to require Noble Energy to keep its workers at the gas facilities, a situation liable to jeopardize the regular supply of resources to the Israel economy. The State Comptroller also found that Israel lacked enough workers who are permanent residents to replace these workers.
The report shows that the Ministry of the Economy allocates NIS 50 million annually for maintenance and management of a strategic food inventory for an emergency, including flour, canned goods, sugar, tea, oil, rice, and baby food. The audit found that because of budgetary constraints, management of the inventory of food for an emergency is inadequate, and in any case does not provide any solution for emergencies resulting from natural disasters and a mass outbreak of influenza.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 9, 2015
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