Civil Defense key role highlighted

Civil Defense plays a remarkable role in protecting the people against accidents and calamities such as fire, flood and earthquake.
Kingdom’s founder King Abdul Aziz launched the first Civil Defense team in Makkah in 1926 with the aim of guaranteeing safety of pilgrims and citizens with an order issued. The unit operated under the Public Security Department at that time. This was followed by establishment of firefighting units in Madinah, Riyadh and other regions in the Kingdom.
It was in 1960 that the unit was named the General Directorate of Firefighting and brought under the Ministry of Interior. In 1965, the directorate adopted the new name of the General Directorate of Civil Defense and defined its duties going beyond the sole function of firefighting to rescue operations and first aid apart from combating any kind of calamity.
The directorate takes preemptive steps against calamities and in the event of the occurrence of a calamity it makes rapid intervention to mitigate the sufferings. It also trains volunteers and draws up emergency plans besides representing the Kingdom in international organizations for civil defense. The Saudi Civil Defense has also been commended for its successful strategies of crowd management during the annual Haj where millions of people gather at a limited place during a limited time.