Vision to Reality: The Reut Blog

Government officials recently discussed the required measures in the case of swine flue turning into a national epidemic. It was decided that in the case of 25% of the population being infected and not being able to attend work, the responsibility to deal with the epidemic will shift from the Ministry of Health to the Ministry of Defense.

The Ministry of Defense will be responsible for activating MELACH (Israel’s Emergency Economy) and closing transportation routes and public centers in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic. In case the situation worsens, the home front command and the Ministry of Defense will join forces.

In a recent document published by Reut under the title: ‘Resilience Network – National and Local Resilience in Israel’  the model of a ‘Civilian Resilience Network’ was developed. The resilience network comprises thousands of units of various types that are committed to improving national and local resilience, and have basic capacities to act independently and collaborate during a crisis. Although the model was developed to help the home front face security challenges, it is also relevant vis-à-vis other crises such as a national epidemic.

The mobilization of civilian-volunteers, non-governmental organizations and professionals such as medical students, paramedics, teachers and others, will improve the response to the epidemic and reduce the burden from the home front command forces and the health care system.