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Qatar Is Preparing To Respond To Unanticipated Natural Disasters

Qatar Is Preparing To Respond To Unanticipated Natural disasters

As climate change makes the world prone to more natural disasters, Qatar readies facilities to shelter people in the wake of emergency.

Qatar’s Permanent Emergency Committee within the Ministry of Interior is working on creating an effective emergency response and recovery plan by the end of 2016, to minimize damage and the risk of mortality in case of unfortunate natural or man-made disasters.

Even though the country has ranked among some of the safest countries against disasters, the world is becoming more and more vulnerable to unprecedented natural disasters caused by global warming induced changes in climate.

Officials recently disclosed of plans of preparing school buildings, offices space and stadiums across the country to serve as shelters and accommodate people in the face of any disaster or emergency.

Many nations are taking same measures as Qatar, which was ranked as the safest country in the world by the United Nations World Risk Index because of its limited exposure to disasters and newly developed infrastructure, since climate change is paving way for floods, droughts, heavy storms and earthquakes in places that weren’t at risk decades ago.

Qatar has in fact avoided any major natural disasters for the past few decades, but that doesn’t mean that the risk isn’t there.

Despite all global warming skeptics, the Global Mean Sea Level has risen between 10 to 20 centimeter over the past century, and on an average of 3.3 milliliters a year. Also, the global average temperature has risen about one degree Celsius since 1880.

This small yet drastic rise in temperature has contributed to more intense heat waves, which in terms melts the polar ice caps and lead to further rise in sea levels. When sea levels rise this rapidly, they come with devastating results. As they reach further inland, they cause erosion, floods, contamination of water supplies and agricultural soils, and destroy habitats for both animals and humans.

The emergency response unit is in collaboration of several ministries, and was built with help of the United Nations, which visited Qatar earlier this year to work with authorities to develop it.

The state has not disclosed where or which the facilities will be just yet, but they did say that they will be fully equipped and stocked with survival kits.

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