La etapa global-emocional en la primera infancia y el masaje infantil.

As briefly mentioned in section 2.7, the UAE faces natural hazards such as thick fog, landslides, earthquakes, and tropical storms. While not all natural hazards can be predicted and prevented, a state of preparedness and an ability to respond to an early warning of a natural disaster can considerably help to mitigate the impact of disaster and reduce human casualties and damage to property and infrastructure (Al Dhanhani, 2010). However, for undocumented reasons, the application of an early warning in the federal plan encountered many challenges and difficulties. These limiting factors have also made it difficult for the civil defence to be activated without the cooperation and coordination of NCEMA in the United Arab Emirates. The current state of each component of the EWS in the UAE takes into account some of the main elements defined by the UN/ISDR – PPEW (2005). Regardless, several challenges, limitations and shortcomings, which show the requirements of the civil defence, stakeholders, and community in early warning response in the United Arab Emirates is inadequate. This indicates the importance and relevance of this research which aims to develop a framework which can guide the integration of EWS in community. Inevitably, this framework will also increase response capabilities, which maximises the public education timeline to warn against risk of natural disasters in the UAE. Therefore, to determine the appropriateness and relevance of the framework this research proposes, section 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3 and 3.3.4 will adopt the key performance indicator outlined in Table 2.3 in chapter two to review the current EWS practices in the UAE.

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3.3.1 Risk Knowledge

Risk assessment can help to increase motivation levels, give priority to the implementation of EWS and also drive the preparation for the prevention of disasters and responses to them (Rogers and Tsirkunov, 2011). In the UAE there is a trend of increasing risk assessments caused by intense coastal urbanization, population movements, and environmental pressures as explained by UNISDR (2006). In addition, resilience of community to disasters is low and there is lack of awareness of how it can be enhanced which in turn influence understanding of preparedness for disasters and hazard risk assessment (Al Dhanhani, 2010).For many reasons, education about disaster is not in the curriculum, and there is no public education programme on hazards and risks, nor any educational and cultural community channels dedicated to teaching or creating awareness of disaster risks such as floods and hurricanes (NCMS, 2013).Thus it shows that even though the UAE have adopted the UK emergency management standards in principle, the practice is different, because there is no record or reference to the use of the public education and warning timeline. This shows a gap in EWS and warning approach in the UAE.

3.3.2 Monitoring and Warning Service

This element refers to the adequacy of the monitored parameters, the strength of the scientific basis of the forecast and the capacity to generate accurate and timely warnings ((Londoño, 2011). In the UAE, the body responsible for monitoring natural disasters and issuing their own warnings is the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS, 2013). NCMS carries out its responsibilities in the framework of WMO activities and through regional and worldwide cooperation with WMO members. One of the main tasks of the centre is the monitoring of seismic activities in and around the UAE and carrying out seismological studies. While this depicts good practice in public warning in the event of any disaster, there is no record of NCEMA or any emergency agency in the UAE as being responsible for public warning (pre- event) and informing and advising the public (immediate and long-term warning). This again emphasises the gap in the EWS in the UAE as well as emphasising the importance of this research.

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3.3.3 Dissemination and Communication

EWS typically focus on dissemination of risk information and communication of imminent danger; the transfer of understandable warnings and preparedness information to those at risk (Wenzel and Zschau, 2014). UAE being a country with many foreign and diverse nationalities, where natives only account for 20% of the total population (Al Ameri, 2010), the ability to effectively communicate EWS is very important. This also means that the dissemination of EWS using traditional methods can be challenging. The traditional methods of warning and alerting the natives is through the use of loudspeakers in mosques (see Figure 3-4) and schools in times of disaster (Al Ameri, 2010), but unfortunately there is no public education on levels of warnings or danger and how the public can be alerted when a disaster risk has escalated.

Figure 3- 4: Loudspeaker in mosques used for warning the community in the UAE (AlAmeri, 2010)

The evidence of warning at community level represents the willingness to engage with the community. It also shows best practice in using method which the community is familiar with and indigenous practice of EWS. The limitation of this method however is that the target audience who can benefit from this information are few compared to the entire population size in the UAE. Hence, the need for additional method of dissemination which can complement this indigenous method.

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3.3.4 Assessment of Response Capability

In the UAE, there is an emergency plan for each local emirate falling within the application of federal plan (Dhanhani, 2010). This arrangement is coordinated by the ministry of interior in partnership with local stakeholders (Dhanhani, 2010). However, this arrangement often results in confusion due to poor coordination between local partners, especially when responsibilities are not well laid out (Phelps, 2010). There is also misconception that risk of natural hazards or disasters and early warnings to them are only the responsibilities of the police and the Civil Defence (Paton and Jackson, 2002). Hence continued disengagement from community prone to disaster and risk which eventually affect the preparedness level of the community (Perry, 2007). The lack of access to timely public education and evidence of a lack of adequate early warning system in the state, as well as weakness existing in educating community members, suggest the need for improvement. While this subsections show some gaps in the current EWS practices in the UAE using the key performance indicators, the next section is devoted to a critical review of response capabilities across the entire seven emirates in the UAE.