Experts discuss leadership in urban earthquake preparedness
<p>Doha, Qatar: Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has hosted the ShakeSmart Regional Communication Workshop, organized by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), with support from the Japanese Red Cross Society.</p> <p>Held under the title “From Toolkit to Action”, the two-day event brought together communication focal points from National Societies across the…
Doha, Qatar hosted a two-day workshop titled "From Toolkit to Action" by the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The event aimed to enhance communication-focused leadership in urban earthquake preparedness among National Societies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Assistant Secretary-General for International Relief and Development at QRCS, Mohamed Bader Al-Sadah, highlighted a tragic earthquake in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in 1948, which killed over 100,000 people in just ten seconds. He emphasized that inadequate infrastructure alone was not the sole cause, but rather a lack of knowledge often separates survival from tragedy.
The workshop focused on utilizing QRCS's ShakeSmart initiative, providing communication tools that can be adapted to national and local contexts. The participants engaged in creating culturally-specific awareness-raising messages and materials, and outlined a region-wide "Drop, Cover, and Hold" drill.
Cristhian Cortez, IFRC MENA Deputy Regional Director, emphasized the ongoing earthquake risk in the region, citing recent devastating earthquakes in Syria-Turkey and Morocco. He stressed that while earthquakes cannot be prevented, their impact can be significantly reduced by ensuring people understand the risks and know how to respond before, during, and after an event.
Written by urgent.news from The Peninsula Qatar's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
