A Technion study recommends "privatizing disasters":

Part of disaster management should be transferred to private hands * Contractors' response to the article that was broadcast tonight on Channel XNUMX - The Technion Intersanti - a response to the body of a person and not to the body of a matter

  
"Disaster management has failed all over the world and a part of it must be transferred to private hands," states Professor Avi Kirschenbaum of the Technion who conducted a series of studies on the population's readiness for conventional and unconventional attacks. Professor Kirschenbaum, a member of the Faculty of Industry and Management, gave a lecture last month about the research and its findings at a conference sponsored by the Chinese government.
"The failure of disaster management stems from the fact that the organizations dealing with it, all over the world, are bureaucratic and cumbersome," he says. "There should be a combination between them and the private sector."
The study revealed that in a country that has more organizations dealing with disasters - the number of reported disasters actually increased. Moreover, the number of reported natural disasters has also increased in those countries. Professor Kirschenbaum explained this by the fact that the organizations define more disasters to justify their existence. "Every fire is defined as a disaster, and every strong wind. The number of natural disasters has increased in those countries because, thanks to their sophisticated means, the organizations know about every disaster, even in remote areas, which once did not come to their attention at all."
The extent of the damage and the number of injured and dead also increased in those countries where there are advanced organizations for risk management. Professor Kirschenbaum explains this with the sophisticated equipment at the disposal of these organizations, which gives more security to people who dare to come and live in disaster-prone areas. "In South Florida, for example, no people should have lived at all. It is a prone place for destructive and dangerous hurricanes. New Orleans is also prone to flooding. If the giant pumps installed there collapse due to a severe hurricane, the entire city center will be flooded with seven meters of water. The residents are calm, because the organizations informed them that they are planning bigger pumps."
Haifa Bay is similar to Florida and New Orleans in this respect. "We know that a disaster could occur, this is a huge accumulation of dangerous substances, yet hundreds of thousands of people live there, because they trust the authorities," emphasizes Professor Kirschenbaum. "So far, dozens of victims of the attack in Israel have barely been treated. A thousand victims will no longer be able to be treated with the existing measures in Israel today."
According to the researcher, who has been working on his research since 2000, a large bureaucratic organization takes care of itself first and then the citizens. That's why he suggests integrating the private sector into risk management: "Private organizations should be set up to provide, for a fee, rescue, electricity through a generator, water in large tanks, food, ambulances and even trauma care. This will be a local-community privatization and the Home Front Command will be able to focus on heavy and sophisticated equipment, search and rescue. Our research revealed that a third of the public would be willing to pay their own money for these services."
This news was also brought up tonight on the first channel of the television, where contractors and politicians in different municipalities were asked what they thought of the proposal. Instead of answering the merits of the matter, they claimed the Technion's interest in establishing a disaster department to oversee those private entities.
We will see what the reactions will be that will be published in the press and we will update accordingly.

It should be noted that in 1988 I published a series of investigations in the local Haifa newspaper Kalvo where I was alerted to the risk in the farms located in the chemical plants in the Gulf.