With repeated state comptroller reports and Knesset committee hearings warning that Israel is woefully unprepared for an inevitable earthquake, a 38-year-old father of three from Rishon Lezion has taken matters into his own hands.

Elad Blumental said he has always had a fear of earthquakes, but after a seminar on the dangers facing Israel two years ago, he realized that “my previous fears were nothing compared to the fears I ought to have.”

Areas in eastern Israel and the West Bank straddle the seismically active Syrian-African Rift, where experts estimate that a major earthquake occurs every 80 to 100 years. The last major tremor struck in 1927, killing 500 people.

The potential for loss of life has risen greatly, however, as the population — and its density — have increased more than elevenfold in the last century.

“I think about all the Israelis who have been killed since October 7,” Blumental said, referring to the bloody Hamas invasion of October 7, 2023, and the nearly three years of war that have followed.

“After an earthquake, we are talking about 7,000 dead, 28,600 collapsed or seriously damaged buildings, and 9,500 people trapped under rubble,” he said, citing a National Emergency Authority plan based on a scenario akin to the 7.8-magnitude temblor that struck Turkey and Syria in February 2023.

Ten years ago, Blumental set up OneDay, which provides one-time social volunteering activities. The organization is now also providing training for volunteer earthquake rescue teams.

“It will take years and lots of money to strengthen buildings,” Blumental said. In the meantime, bolstering local, civilian rescue services is a fast, cheap, and more immediate contribution.

When a building collapses, rescuers have only a short window to reach those trapped in the rubble — ideally within 24 hours, though rescues can take place up to 72 hours later, Blumental said.

In case of a catastrophic earthquake, Israel’s Fire Service would be occupied with hazardous materials and fires, he warned, and Home Front Command rescue teams would only be able to manage a few dozen buildings at a time.

Given the military’s desperate need for combat soldiers, it would be hard to bring in more reservists, he added, and it could take days to fully mobilize them, assuming roads were passable and the troops weren’t themselves buried under rubble.

After meeting with ministries and the Home Front Command, Blumental discovered that members of local authority rescue teams were often understaffed, unfit, and trained just once a year. Itzik Bar, the new head of the National Emergency Authority, told a Knesset committee last month that the last national Home Front Command earthquake exercise took place in 2017.

The Home Front Command would not comment on manpower, citing security reasons. It said that the National Resilience College and the Home Front Command were working to train local authorities, hospitals, and other institutions to deal with “various emergency situations, including earthquakes of various scales.”

A statement from the Israel Fire and Rescue Services said the organization was “prepared and trained to provide an immediate, large-scale, and rolling operational response in the event of an earthquake or mass-destruction disaster… over long days and nights and at........

© The Times of Israel