Vision to Reality: The Reut Blog

Israel’s recent municipal elections failed to raise awareness of the ‘home front’ issue and instead reflect the mindset that it should be handled by the government and security establishment. However, in order to enhance the population’s resilience during emergencies, Israeli communities should develop a new ‘Culture of Preparedness’ at the local level.

In the aftermath of the 9/11attacks in New York, the London Resilience Partnership including the municipality, police forces, fire department, and representatives from the business and voluntary sectors was established to prepare the English capital to successfully respond during emergencies. When the city was attacked in July 2005, the ‘Culture of Preparedness’ – a set of shared values, priorities, and patterns of behavior integrated into all layers of society with the aim of preparing the population for dealing with emergencies – created by this coalition allowed London to successfully respond.

London’s social-civic approach is quite different from the security-governmental approach characterizing the preparedness plans of most local authorities in Israel who expect top-down solutions from the Government and security establishment.

Following London’s lead, local communities and authorities in Israel should take a leading role developing an Israeli version of a ‘Culture of Preparedness’ to improve society’s resilience under fire.

(Video on Creating a Culture of Preparedness in Southern California)