President Al-Assad chairs an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the repercussions of the earthquake

Damascus – President Bashar Al-Assad on Monday chaired an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the repercussions of the earthquake that hit the country and the necessary measures to be taken.

The earthquake claimed the lives of hundreds of people, injured a large number of others and caused collapse and cracking to dozens of residential buildings.

During the meeting, the current situation resulted from the earthquake was assessed.  It was stressed that most affected governorates and locations were in the governorates of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.

Based on the current situation, an emergency action plan was developed at the national level, led by a central operations room operating around the clock, in addition to field teams on the ground.

It was directed to take a set of urgent steps, including:

-All ministries, institutions and concerned authorities are put on high alert .

– Mobilization of all teams and capabilities of civil defense, firefighting, health, public construction companies and their branches in the governorates, all service institutions and directorates of public services to carry out life-saving and rubble removal operations.

All governors were also directed to mobilize all capabilities of the public and private sectors and mechanisms to carry out rescue operations and contribute to removing the rubble.

Providing urgent health care for all the injured in the various governorates, and mobilizing all medical personnel in the ministries of health, defense and higher education.

It was also directed to secure shelters and food for those affected urgently, and to secure oil derivatives to supply emergency technical operations in the affected governorates.

-Directing the Ministry of Internal Trade to provide the necessary foodstuffs for shelters and affected people, and mobilizing its cadres to perform this task accurately and quickly.

-Instructing the technical safety teams to assess the condition of the cracked buildings, describe their technical condition, and evacuate them from the residents in the event of danger.

-Assigning the Ministry of Water Resources to quickly detect dams, reservoirs and water stations, and ensure their safety and ensure the continuity of water access to citizens.

President al-Assad instructed the concerned ministers to go to the governorates to directly supervise the operating rooms and mobilize all available capabilities in the governorates to deal with this ordeal. In parallel, the central operations room in Damascus is following up upon all developments and taking the necessary measures to support the operating rooms in the governorates.

The Central Operations Room in Damascus is headed by the Prime Minister, the Minister of Local Administration, the Secretary-General of the Presidency of the cabinet and the relevant ministers.

K.Q.