Army lacks funding for protecting civilians against chemical attack

The army is hundreds of millions of shekels short of funds needed to resupply the civilian population with gas mask kits to be used in the event of a chemical attack. Most of the kits supplied in advance of the 2003 war in Iraq have since been collected after many were no longer usable.

Next November, the Home Front Command is due to begin distributing new kits to the entire population and will reportedly start in the Tel Aviv area and Haifa. Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, who heads the Home Front Command, has indicated, however, that it will take at least two years to cover the entire country.

Senior civil defense officials have indicated that the cost of supplying the kits is about NIS 2.7 billion and it is not yet clear where the money will come from. The private company which was tasked with collecting the kits from the public has retrieved about 77 percent of them. They will be reconditioned and redistributed.

Two months ago, the State Comptroller roundly criticized the defense establishment over the fact that most of the population lacks functioning gas masks.

On Thursday the Home Front Command unveiled its new public awareness campaign on emergency civil defense procedures. The command has developed a new approach in which the country will be divided into 27 districts for purposes of air raid warnings, depending upon distance from the northern border and the type of rocket or missile which is expected to fall.

Advance warning of between thirty seconds and three minutes will be given, depending upon the location of the district.

On the northern border, no advance warning is expected. Four districts adjacent to the Gaza Strip have also been carved out, from which residents will have 15 to 60 seconds advance warning of rockets from the Strip.

The new civil defense information campaign will be launched today on television, radio and the Internet.

A nationwide civil defense drill is slated for June 2.