RIYADH: A request has been submitted to Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz to establish a national committee to establish a strategy to deal with natural disasters, Dr. Samir Bin Jamil Ghazi, deputy president for Environment Affairs at the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment, said Monday. Speaking while chairing the first session of the GCC Municipal Work Conference in Riyadh, Dr. Ghazi said King Abdul Aziz University is studying and monitoring climate change. Dr. Muhammad Al-Rajihi, undersecretary of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs for Lands and Survey, said the Ministry, in collaboration with international consultative bodies, is studying a strategy to deal with and reduce flood dangers. The strategy is based on aerial photography to identify and map flood-prone areas where construction is to be avoided, he added. Discussion is needed to develop performance in municipal work to confront climate changes and curb their dangers to residents, Jumah Khalfan Alfulaiti, assistant director general of Planning and Studies at Oman's Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources, stated in a working paper. Climate change that is threatening urban areas is a new challenge to municipalities and bodies managing cities, he said in his working paper “Climate Change Impacts on Urban Development, Oman as a Model”. He stressed a need for “analyzing natural disasters and identifying their causes”. Professors Muhammad Ahmad, Muwalli Fat'hi, and Mustafa Mahmoud, of Cairo University's Urban and Regional Planning Faculty, stated that damage from natural disasters is larger in developing countries because relatively little attention is given to setting criteria for urban development. They presented a working paper titled “Urban Development Criteria in Natural Hazard Zones”.
