Saudi Arabia plans to set up seven new emergency shelters in the Makkah, Tabuk and Jazan regions, said Lt. Gen. Saad Al-Tuwaijri, director general of the Civil Defense Department.
His statement comes after reports that shelters set up by the department do not cover all regions of the country. “We’ll make use of schools, sports facilities and social care homes for giving shelter to people during emergencies,” he said.
The general disclosed plans to establish four new shelters in the Makkah region, two in Tabuk and one in Jazan. “The Civil Defense has prepared a number of places in different regions for use as shelters,” he added.
The department coordinates with schools and sports clubs in order to make use of their facilities to shelter people at times of crisis, the Civil Defense chief said.
A local daily had earlier reported that there is a lack of shelters in different parts of the Kingdom and proposed the use of furnished apartments as shelters during emergency.
The plan to establish new shelters in different regions is significant, as the rainy season is fast approaching. Many parts of the Kingdom, including Jeddah, Makkah, Taif, Riyadh, Tabuk, Jazan and Asir, face flash floods during the rainy season.
The Makkah governorate launched new drainage projects worth more than SR1.8 billion to protect East Jeddah districts located between Al-Khamra in the south and Wadi Kura in the north from flash floods.
“The new flood prevention project takes into account Jeddah’s residential expansion and construction boom in the next 15 years,” Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal said.
Officials at flood-prevention projects in Jeddah have trained 115 young Saudis to supervise future projects, the prince said. “The project’s management is proud of developing standards for its execution,” he added.
Ahmed Al-Saleem, director of the Rainwater and Flood Drainage Project in Jeddah, said the new project, which includes construction of open canals, would serve as a preventive shield for Jeddah from north to south.
Seven more emergency shelters planned
