The Jeddah Municipality is planning to conduct case studies on the city’s work concerning Disaster Risk Management (DRM), according to Nader Ghazal, mayor of Tripoli and president of Al-Fayhaa Union of Municipalities in Lebanon.

Ghazal, who held bilateral discussions with Ali Khattani of the mayor’s office, said: “I am sure they are working hard, but what happened in Riyadh on Sunday indicates that we should be more prepared.”

Ghazal was speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the concluding day of a regional consultation workshop on natural disasters in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region on Monday.

Asked what he saw in common between the problems faced by Tripoli and Saudi Arabia, he said that regardless of the reasons of the disasters, the results are the same.

“The reasons could be natural, or man-made, but the results are catastrophic that you need to handle,” he said.

“Whether it is an earthquake, flood or droughts, there are casualties on small or large scale that have to be taken care of. The numbers do not minimize the necessity of quick and efficient response,” he said, adding: “When you have a crisis you have to shelter people, feed them, and if it is a long-term sheltering or displacement such as the Syrian refugees, then you have to think about the education system as also the health system.”

When asked that as mayor of Tripoli, did he think there was a civil institution that has to be more cautious and prepared, he said: “Yes, indeed, when you have a crisis. Again it depends on the type of crisis. But generally speaking, the civil defense should be there, the Red Cross, or the Red Crescent. In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Interior is very much involved, so is the army.”

He stressed the importance of integration of all organizations related to such crises — the army, the internal forces, Civil Defense and the Red Cross.

Ghazal said he always likes to focus on the role that can be played by the civil society. “Following the bombing of the two mosques in Tripoli and in the case of the displaced Syrians, we were happy and surprised by the reaction from the civil society. They did a wonderful job. In some areas, they took on the role of the government,” he said.

Ghazal said that at the union and the municipality, they have a unit that takes care of crisis management. He said that because of the large number of Syrian refugees, they are facing problems. “As a municipality, we are not in a position anymore to be able to manage this influx of refugees from outside the city,” he said, adding that the problems included solid waste management, sewer system, education system and public health issues.

He urged the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) to support the municipality in the crisis.


“This is not the first time that the World Bank has helped us in Tripoli. We have several projects, such as a project on DRM, the preservation of cultural heritage, and also to develop our own strategy,” he said.


adding: “We had very good support from the World Bank earlier and are looking forward to further this support.”

He said that besides government agencies and ministries, there should be focus on the role of the civil society. It has to be trained, so that they are ready, and are able to give the proper support. “Having the will is good but having the means is also important, and having the skills is much more important. What the civil society needs is not just the will but the means and the skills as well. So I think these should also be focused on,” he added.