"The tragedy of Derna is a warning for the worst". Hajji reveals the reasons for the increase in disasters in the Arab world

Dr. Essam Hajji, a space scientist specializing in earth and planetary sciences, blamed the increase in natural disasters in the Arab countries, such as earthquakes and floods, on the lack of awareness of climate change, the scarcity of research and specialized observatories, in addition to poor urban planning.

In its episode on (2023/10/2), the program highlighted the recent disasters that affected the region, such as the two devastating earthquakes that struck southern Turkey and affected the Middle East in February 2023, the Al-Hawz earthquake in Morocco in September of the same year, as well as the floods in Libya, which left great destruction in the coastal city of Derna a few days after the Morocco earthquake.

Hajji said that the Derna flood disaster is not the worst, but rather a warning of the worst, and pointed out that what happened in it is a copy of what happened in 1925 in the Gulf region when a storm destroyed the naval ships there, led to famine and caused almost similar casualties.

Hajji published maps of Derna after Hurricane Daniel, reviewing rainfall rates, and revealed that the storm did not enter deeply, but caused a large amount of dust movements from the inside to the coastal strip, stressing that the environmental danger lies in reconstruction by removing millions of cubic meters of mud.

He revealed that Arab coastal cities such as Egypt's Alexandria, Morocco's Tangier, and Bahrain's Manama are losing their battle in light of the increase in climate change and its recurrence at recent intervals in recent decades in the Mediterranean region, for example, in addition to the lack of public awareness of these risks, and the increase in the number of people in threatened areas.

The Egyptian scientist stopped at Alexandria, which he said has turned from a city historically resilient to disasters to an area at risk in the last 20 years, referring to the danger of building in flood areas, which led to the deterioration of the urban landscape in the port city.

Population density risks

Hajji pointed out that the majority of the population of the Middle East and North Africa (92%) settles in 3% of the total area of the Arab world, before confirming that there has been a significant deterioration in climate and scientific knowledge, which has caused the bulk of disasters.

Studies show that some 30 million people in the Arab world are at risk of increasing the likelihood of devastating earthquakes in the future.

The program broadcast artificial intelligence images and satellite maps of the great destruction that climate change could cause to infrastructure, such as storms entering the coastal strip, causing torrential rains that swept away everything in their path.

Hajji stressed that solutions to confront climate change exist, "as it is not the end of the universe and humanity, but rather the danger of not dealing with it," and pointed to a development program between the universities of Munich, California, Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar and NASA to develop the coastline in the Arab region, "to be resistant to climate change."

Hajji gave some solutions to confront this climate change, including afforestation, the erection of sand barriers and the treatment of the coastal strip "in a scientific way".

Documentary

The program broadcast a short documentary film that reviewed the history of the Arab region with natural disasters, and stopped frequently with Arab and foreign experts to learn about the earthquake belts that surround Arab countries. The film also monitored the experiences of Chile and Japan in facing frequent earthquakes, especially the Asian country, which is exposed to two thousand earthquakes annually without any significant impact.

The film included scientific opinions from prominent experts from both countries, on how to monitor earthquakes, developments in mandatory building standards that resist earthquakes and the flexibility of structural construction, to ensure that buildings absorb earthquakes.

The experts who spoke during the film shown by the program pointed out that there are seismic sensors in Japan that facilitate the start of evacuation operations early, and Tokyo has developed building codes to 3 levels: the first is related to steel supports, the second is to dampers that absorb earthquake energy, and the third level is to isolate the building structure from the ground.

As for the Arab world, seismologists touched on the collision areas and their classifications, as well as the Arab countries most threatened by earthquakes, as the region passes through or near 3 main earthquake belts, namely the East African belt, the Alpine belt, and the Dead Sea Rift, and the latter is the most active, and concerns the countries of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan.

The experts revealed that the seismic code exists in the Arab countries but is not binding, in addition to the slow development in the Arab region, which poses a serious challenge, especially in densely populated cities, "because the fall of houses is the first reason for the increase in the number of victims."

They pointed to the importance of population distribution, attention to disaster management plans and the introduction of seismic hazard and the weakness and unreliability of buildings, especially with the absence of an Arab network to monitor earthquakes.