Reports show that Saudi Arabia has encountered a large number of disasters over the past ten years. These include the Jeddah floods in 2009 and 2011, several girls’ school fires, and the collapse of a historic building in addition to 8,000 buildings on the verge of collapse in Jeddah alone. Beside these disasters, many Saudi female teachers have died in dangerous traffic accidents with no accurate studies about their number and causes. Arab News asked officials if we had learned any lessons from these occurrences.

Jamal Banoon, a Saudi author and head of the Saudi Center for Studies and Media, said, “We are shocked about the large number of accidents that happened in Jeddah during a short period of time.”

He wondered if we had learned any lessons from the accidents. “Natural and man-made disasters can teach us and the government useful lessons on how to act in the future,” Banoon said.

However, Banoon believed that “We don’t wake up until we get slapped in the face. As a nation, we got slapped in the face during the 2009 and 2011 floods. The result is that we are now trying to understand the lesson. The Saudi government recently announced the launch of the largest drainage system as a step to avoid floods in future rains.”

He added, “The recent fires that broke out in private girls’ schools led to many questions in the field of safety measures that should be taken in schools. However, the Civil Defense recently issued a press release that confirmed that no safety measures were taken in most girls’ schools.” According to Banoon, we should ask the Civil Defense: “Where were you before the recent fire in a private school?”

He added, “Unfortunately, the fire last week was not the first. Studies show that 32 fires broke out in Saudi schools within two years. Students and teachers are aware of the dangers they are facing, but the officials show no concerns.”

Banoon thinks it is very easy to demonstrate that the focus shifted dramatically after the Jeddah floods toward a drainage system. “On the other hand, officials ignored dilapidated buildings, road accidents involving teachers, and school fires,” he said.

“We need to realize that both rains as well as fires and other accidents are critical incidents that require quick responses. We cannot prevent natural disasters, but we can be prepared for them,” said Banoon.

Saud Al-Kateb, a media professor at King Abdulaziz University, thinks that it is a lesson that the government as well as businesses need to learn.

“We have to build our plans around worst-case scenarios, which might occur due to natural or man-made disasters,” he said.

Personal preparedness is as important as ever, but government preparedness is of even greater value. The recent fires, floods and teachers’ deaths in road accidents have shown that most government authorities are not prepared to face disaster.

While there is a responsibility on the side of the population, responsibility is completely absent among officials, said Al-Kateb.

According to him, ministries should make sure that their employees are working well without crossing the limits or cheating.

“When you look at the floods, private school fires and teachers’ deaths in road accidents, the message is that people cannot count on the government officials,” said Al-Kateb.

He added that as long as there were no strict punishments, officials would absent themselves from reforming the issues that threaten the life of citizens.

Banoon, for his part, stressed that Saudi Arabia needed to create a “Safety Observation Committee” that takes care of ensuring safety measures in governmental buildings and roads.

Banoon and Al-Kateb both stressed that officials needed to rethink about studies and plans to ensure the safety of Saudi governmental buildings.

“We have to understand what the legitimate expectations are,” said Al-Kateb. “If we set performance goals, we will achieve perfection.”

He added, “It is not just about getting people out before a disaster hits. We have to begin with plans to predict a catastrophe and deal with it perfectly. Trained staff are required in many sectors related to humanity and rescue teams.”