Under the Prestigious Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Advisor and Chairman of the National Emergency Crisis & Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA) Board of Directors, The Crisis & Emergency Management Conference – CEMC preceded its activities for the second day in the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr Hotel, Abu Dhabi. The conference was organized by the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis – INEGMA, commissioned by the National Emergency Crisis & Disasters Management Authority – NCEMA.
CEMC participants conveyed their gratitude and appreciation to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai and His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Supreme Commander of The UAE Armed Forces and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi for their continued support and to all those who supported the conference which has resulted into great success and came out with important positive results.
Participants also conveyed their thanks and gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Advisor and Chairman of the National Emergency Crisis & Disasters Management Authority – NCEMA for his patronage and follow up on the conference activities.
NCEMA expressed its appreciation to all participants for all the efforts deployed and the presentations they have made, announcing the fourth edition of CEMC in 2014.
At the end of the conference, a number of recommendations were issued to include:
• The set up of a unified Gulf System to manage emergencies, crisis and disasters, develop unified strategies and plans, in addition to methods of standardized training and organization of joint exercise using similar tools to face any crisis or disaster that might occur in any government in the region, thus exchanging expertise in confronting crisis and disasters.
• The importance of the civil society institutions’ participation to include NGO’s and educational institutions in all strategies and plans related to emergency, crisis and disasters.
• The need to deal with members of the community with full transparency and honesty on all levels to include all kinds of cultures during emergency, crisis and disasters.
The second day of the conference started with a keynote speech delivered by Dr. Abdulaziz Yusuf Hamza, Chairman of the GCC Emergency Management Centre followed by two plenary sessions.
Dr. Hamza stressed on the importance of preparing plans to deal with the challenges faced by countries in the region, notably the Arab-Israeli conflict, the spread of nuclear weapons, the conflict for control of the vital waterways, the scarcity of food and water, technological war and other related challenges.
First Plenary Session: Crisis Management Coordination and Cooperation
The First Plenary Session featured four speakers. Mr. AmjadA bashar, Head of the Regional Office for Arab States at the united Nations International Strategy for Disaster reduction, examined “Hyogo framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters.” Abashar asserted that: “Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) aims to reduce the damage caused by natural hazards like earthquakes, floods, droughts and cyclones, through an ethic of prevention.” He added: “Disasters caused by vulnerability to natural hazards kill more people in developing than in developed countries, and disaster-related economic losses, measured against a country’s wealth are much larger in poor countries.”
Mr. Kyung-Soo Han, Vice President and Head of Emergency Management office of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, gave a presentation entitled: “Crisis Management of Korea’s Nuclear Power Plants.” Han briefed about the crisis and disaster type, the emergency response system, nuclear security post-Fukushima crisis management and Korea’s effort to enhance nuclear security stating: “Seoul Nuclear Security Summit will be held on March 26-27, 2012 where 200 participants at CEO level will be present. The summit will treat the role of nuclear industry to enhance nuclear security and safety and the international collaboration to strengthen security on nuclear information.”
Mr. Ahmed Awad Al Katheri, Head of Prevention Section at NCEMA, had a lecture on “The role of Numerical Models in Predicting Natural and Nuclear Disasters.” Al Katheri stated: “A huge amount of money and tremendous efforts is exerted by the global community to increase the global awareness and preparedness. The objectives of the numerical modeling roles in crisis management are to spotlight on the vital positive impacts that scientific modeling could have in crisis management through monitoring, predicting, etc. and to point out the difficulties facing the modeling researches throughout the region.”
The final speaker of the first plenary session, Captain Ramiro Galvez, Station Commander at the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department and member at the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), United States. Captain Galvez briefed on “The effective urban search & rescue-capitalizing on interoperable GIS technology.” He stated: “Urban & Rescue is the process of locating, extricating and providing medical treatment to victims trapped as a result of structural collapses and other natural accidental or man-made catastrophes.” Galvez added: “Among the remaining challenges is the use of standard language to define urban area searches following catastrophic disasters, in addition to the use of technological equipment to better collect, collate and share information gathered from search teams.”
Second Plenary Session: The Information Environment
The Second Plenary Session featured three speakers. Mr. Khaled Khalifa, Head of Middle East and Asia Bureau at the Integrated Regional Information Network, delivered a speech on: “The Role of Information in the Current Operating Environment.” Mr. Khalifa argued that humanitarian actors need to share information for the reason to reduce duplication of efforts, improve the effectiveness of information flow between humanitarian actors and improve the humanitarian response. He added: “There is a need to institutionalize information sharing into the humanitarian response. It cannot be effective without global/regional recognition that Information Management is a key underlying component of humanitarian operations and integration of information management into preparedness and response.”
Mr. Hashem Mohammed Al Hashemi, Head of GIS Sectionat NCEMA briefed about: “UAE’s NSDI and its Applications in emergency and Disaster Management.” Al Hashemi argued: “NCEMA’s mission is to enhance the capabilities of the United Arab Emirates to manage and respond to crisis and emergencies in order to save lives and preserve property, while ensuring business continuity and immediate recovery through preparedness and joint planning, using all means of coordination and communication between the federal, local and private sectors.”
Finally, Mr. Tim Godwin, Deputy Commissioner at London Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom, lectured about: “Understanding the Evolving Role of Social Media in Crisis Management.” Godwin briefed about the most significant disturbances in a generation in addition to the most serious disorder across London stating: “Intelligence, investigation and engagement are the three ways for the police to use social media.”
CEMC 2012 Government partners were: Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, General Headquarters and Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Executive Council General Secretariat.
Gold sponsor: Lockheed Martin, Silver sponsor: Booz Allen Hamilton.
CEMC 2012 concluded with enormous success.
