Globes, Halit Yanai-Levison 21.09.2021
On Saturday morning, September 11, family members who lived at 38 Serlin Street in Holon found it difficult to open the door. They called the fire and rescue service, and firefighters who arrived at the building discovered that his physical condition was dilapidated and that he might collapse. They gave the tenants a few minutes to collect some necessary items like medicine, and evacuated everyone from the house.
Where do you go on Saturday mornings without packing almost anything? The Holon municipality offered the tenants to vacate a nearby community center and take a shower in the country showers. The tenants did not see this as a satisfactory solution, and they all spent the night elsewhere.
The next day, Sunday afternoon, the building collapsed with a great noise, and the question of evacuation became a problem that would need a comprehensive solution for many months. What happens in the event of an earthquake or a multi-casualty event? Where will homeless people go if there are thousands or tens of thousands of them? Here are some of the questions that need to be resolved.
■ Where do you go?
Despite the criticism leveled at it, the Holon municipality acted according to the principles set out in the government program "Guest Hotel", which details the situations in which citizens are forced to evacuate their homes in an emergency (military conflict or natural disaster) and the response they will receive.
According to the principles of the plan, the evacuees will be transferred to community centers or other vacant public buildings, mainly schools.
The plan goes into detail and determines the number of restrooms and showers needed per 100 evacuees, what to do about evacuating prisoners, how to provide education and health services to evacuees, and more.
However, an inherent problem with the plan is that it is not always clear who is responsible in an emergency - the IDF or local authorities.
■ What happens in the second stage?
The "Guest Hotel" program states that "extending the service beyond one week will be approved by the Ministry of the Interior and coordinated with the Ministry of Finance," but in the event of an earthquake or military operation, a week or two may not be enough to accommodate large numbers of refugees.
The National Emergency Authority (RAHL), which is responsible for coordinating the various government bodies in emergencies, says that beyond this period, the Ministry of Housing will have to enter the picture, whether through empty public housing apartments, or through rapid construction, of converting containers or placing caravans.
Interior Ministry Director General Yair Hirsch tells Globes: "Operation Eitan, for example, lasted 51 days. In most of our scenarios, there are those who, God forbid, will have nowhere to go back to and then the Ministry of Housing will come into the picture, and whoever can, will return to his home. It is clear that schools are a temporary solution, because it is impossible to disable the education system for a long time. "
Yair Hirsch, Director General of the Ministry of the Interior / Photo: Spokeswoman for the Minister of the Interior
One can also learn from other cases in the world. A study done in Japan after the Fukushima earthquake found that a year and a half after the incident, tens of thousands of evacuees were still living in city-funded temporary housing, or public housing, and thousands in relatives and friends.
In the case of the building in Holon, since it is not a military conflict or a natural disaster, the municipality announced that the families will be able to live in various guest houses in the country until the end of the holiday season.
They are then supposed to take care of themselves. What remains is their ownership of the land on which the building stood - and they can now try to promote evacuation-construction.
Minister of Construction and Housing Zeev Elkin said last week: "There is an emergency here and it is the duty of the state to help residents whose homes have collapsed. I instructed all the professional bodies in the ministry to work in full cooperation with the municipality to advance all planning processes soon. "Local for the safety and quality of life of the residents."
But even in the most optimistic case and assuming that the municipality and the Ministry of Housing will keep their promise to expedite proceedings, these are years.