Agriculture is one of the most exposed sectors to the impacts of declining water availability. Israeli desert farmers are able to grow fruit and vegetable crops in some of the most hostile, dry climates on earth. However even the world's most high-tech farms face new challenges due to growing water stress in the Middle-East. Watch the video from the New York Times to learn more.

Strengthening international cooperation on crisis management and increasing inter-agency preparedness among First Responders, Military, and Civilian Agencies will be the focus of the 10th International Crisis Management Seminar organized from 6 to 10 October 2013 in Israel. The seminar is addressed to  First Responders, and Mid to Upper Level Emergency Managers.

The seminar is part of the international cooperation activities of the Israeli Home Front Command which holds numerous meetings in Israel and abroad in order to learn from the experience of other civil defense organizations as well as to share the Israeli experiences with others.

Three specific subjects will be discusses during the 2013 seminar: how to increase preparedness of local governments, how to improve the crisis management capacities of public organizations and how to strengthen national resilience.

The goal of the Israel Home Front Command is to ensure the resilience of the Israeli people during armed conflict, disasters and emergencies.

For additional information, please contact:

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or +972-8-978-3565

Firefighting teams from around the world flew into Israel on 3-5 December to help battle the largest fire in Israel's history which erupted on Thursday 2 December in the northern Carmel region and was extinguished Sunday 5 December around midnight.

 A few hours after the fire took hold of the region, when it became clear that Israeli fire service could not cope with it, the Israeli government launched an international appeal for help. Israel also contacted the EU Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) with a specific request for fire-delaying and extinguishing materials, such as anti-fire powder. In response, the MIC was activated and spread Israel's request to the 31 members of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. Within hours, the Participating States offered the requested material and the delivery of assistance was coordinated by the MIC.

Overall at least 22 countries swiftly responded to the Israeli call. International firefighting teams started to arrive on site Friday morning. Greece, Spain, France, Cyprus, Croatia, Turkey, UK, USA and the Russian Federation offered fire fighting aircrafts. “34 planes and helicopters swooped over the Israeli woodland – the Israeli fire services spokesman said -, dumping tons of seawater onto the flames, but the blaze continued to burn out of control mostly due to the strong winds”.

Four Greek fire fighting planes were the first to arrive Friday morning followed by Cypriot, French and Turkish aircrafts on the same day. On 4 December two Russian Ilyushin Il-76 planes which are able to discharge 42 tons of water at once arrived and on 5 December an American Boeing 747 Supertanker, the biggest aerial firefighting weapon, joined the air fleet pouring some 82 tons of water at once and spraying flame retardant over the fire.

150 foreign firefighters have been working alongside hundreds of Israelis to contain the fires, 92 of them came from Bulgaria. Three teams were sent by the Palestinian Authority to support efforts and three others were sent from Jordan. The global effort to help Israel contain the fires also involved Egypt, Germany, Italy, Austria, Romania, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

"I think this symbolises an unprecedented response to our request for international help," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “The EU and our Member States have responded to this natural disaster with immediate and coordinated assistance,” highlighted Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union in a statement.

The wildfire claimed 41 lives, scorched more than 5,000 hectares of woodland, destroyed millions of trees, devastated dozens of houses and forced the evacuations of more than 15,000 people from villages and towns close to the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Israeli media assessed the cost of the damage at over 400 million €.

Declaration of gratitude from the State of Israel to the Palestinian Authority
The State of Israel expresses its gratitude and deep appreciation to the Special Delegation from The Palestinian Authority for the invaluable contribution and exemplary courage in battling the blaze on Mt. Carmel. Signed Simon Peres, President of the State of Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel.

EU supports Israel in combating worst forest fires in decades

MIC message 1, Friday, December 03, 2010 8:08 PM

MIC message 2, Friday, December 03, 2010 8:09 PM

MIC Message n.3, Tuesday, December 07, 2010 11:40 AM

OCHA Carmel Fire Situation Report #1, 4 December 2010

This article by Avigdor Rutenberg and Robert Levy from the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and Avi Shapira from the UK-based International Seismological Centre introduces the available seismic hazard maps along with the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis procedures used to elaborate those maps.