Dubai: A rapid response plan is being considered by Dubai Police to quickly handle maritime emergencies that occur along the coastline, heard officials attending a disaster-preparedness forum in Dubai on Wednesday.
Brigadier Omar Al Shamsi, deputy director of Operations Affairs Department, said the proposed plan will address potential hazards from growing marine cargo, passenger and recreational marine traffic in Dubai waters to avoid maritime accidents.
Brig Al Shamsi was speaking at the First Forum of Maritime Crises and Disasters Experts organised to help build a comprehensive vision to encounter maritime threats to Dubai’s well-being.
“During a sea crisis, Dubai needs to have a unified command centre for all efforts. We need a sea security system to gather all efforts during emergencies under one umbrella,” Brig Al Shamsi said in his address.
Routine shipping accidents, he said, can quickly threaten the critical infrastructure affecting millions of people in the country if proper planning is not in place to meet unforeseen incidents.
For example, on November 13, 2017, 56 empty shipping containers slid overboard into Gulf waters off Dubai from the deck of a cargo ship due to rough seas, Brig Al Shamsi explained.
Floating freely in waters, wind and currents pushed the large containers towards a nearby water desalination plant.
“The containers were close to affecting the station and cutting the water supply to the city. It took us three months to pull out all containers from the sea. Such accidents can lead to a disaster or crisis,” Brig Al Shamsi said.
He said the new plan is to have one command room and put tracking devices on all ships coming into Dubai waters.
According to Dubai Police statistics, they recorded 103 sea accidents in Dubai last year.
Meanwhile, Lt-Colonel Ahmad Atiq Burqibah, deputy director of Crisis and Disasters in the General Department of Operations at Dubai Police, said the forum will help to exchange best practices in disaster and crisis management during sea accidents in the future.
“We are ready in Dubai to face any sea accident round the clock. However, we need to be prepared even more in the future and such forums will help strength our ability to avoid casualties and damage in properties during sea accidents,” he said.
“This forum will help find best recommendations and practices to secure the coasts by having one command room for all entities,” Lt-Col Burqibah said.
