At the NIRED we conduct cutting-edge research on various aspects of the behavioral, legal, managerial, economic and spatial aspects of disasters and emergencies, in collaboration with academic institutions from Israel and around the world and governmental offices and agencies.

Establishing Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) in Israeli Arab settlements as means for enhancing earthquake preparedness

Researchers: Carmit Rapaport and Javier Simonovich (Yezreel Valley College)

Community emergency response teams (CERT) already operate in various rural settlements and regional councils (“TZACHI” in Hebrew). These teams, composed of volunteers, are trained and equipped for emergency missions such as providing psychosocial help, logistics of evacuation and communication with citizens and official first responders. Given Israel’s location on the Great Rift Valley there is high risk of a strong earthquake in the area. Research has shown that the population does not prepare, nor perceive their preparedness as high. Furthermore, given the multicultural characteristics of the Israeli society, some ethnic groups such as Israeli Arabs who live mainly in rural areas are exposed to high earthquakes risk, but suffer from low preparedness. Such emergency teams can rarely be found in Israeli Arab settlements. The proposed study aims at developing a model of community emergency response teams that can be applicable in Israeli Arab settlements in order to enhance earthquakes preparedness and minimize potential damages and harm. The proposed research is innovative by the multidimensional approach involving both academic and practical knowledge. The outcome of the research will serve as basis for the establishment of such CERTs in Israeli Arab settlements.

Effects of crisis on tourism

Researcher: Carmit Rapaport

The strategic planning and management of tourism at the national level is based on a combination of many factors including infrastructure, transportation, marketing, public health and environmental issues among other. Terror incidents in the lasts few years, mainly in Europe and Asia, as well as natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and wildfires), and economic and political crises around the world have led to significant turbulences in the global and local tourism industry. Increased globalization has led to mutual effects when incidents in one part of the world lead to significant changes in another. Hence, there is a growing and immediate need to establish an evidence-based national program which categorizes crises in the last decades, and the actions that have been taken to cope with them, both on the global and national levels. The overarching goal of this research project is to create an innovative tool for decision makers to recognize the development of a current crisis on the basis of past crises, which allows to plan the most adequate steps and immediately respond in order to minimize the potential harm to the tourism industry.