Is Palestine prepared for a major earthquake?
A string of minor earthquakes has drawn attention to the fact that in the event of a strong seismic activity in the West Bank, Palestinian lives are at risk and the infrastructure could be severely damaged.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — A magnitude 4.6 earthquake hit the northern part of the Sea of Galilee on July 27, one of the strongest in a series of earthquakes in the northern West Bank in July.
Palestinian officials fear that an earthquake with magnitude 6.5 or higher may cause extensive damage to buildings and even result in casualties given the lack of resources to confront such an incident.
On July 19, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah met with members of the Supreme Council for Palestinian Civil Defense to discuss earthquake preparedness, and emergency field councils were formed in the West Bank.
In a conversation with Al-Monitor, Jalal Dabbeek, director of the Earth Sciences and Seismic Engineering Center at An-Najah University, reviewed the different scenarios of future earthquakes, the damage they may cause and the means to mitigate losses and mechanisms of an emergency response program.
