Permanent Emergency Committee Ready for Any Emergency: Police Chief

Doha, April 17 (QNA) - The Permanent Emergency Committee has stressed its full readiness to effectively deal with the different emergencies at any time and place whatever their sizes are. In an interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA) on Wednesday, HE Public Security Director General Staff Maj. Gen. Saad bin Jassim Al Khulaifi reassured Qatar's citizens and residents that the Committee is ready to handle emergencies of all kinds. He said thanks to close coordination between members of the committee from the state's concerned institutions, the committee has the effective programs and appropriate systematic plans needed to spare Qatar the effects and consequences of such disasters, whether natural or not. Al Khulaifi noted that Monday's earthquake in Iran and the subsequent tremors in the region did not result in any material damage or human losses in Qatar. "There was a sense of tremor but no one was affected and no losses were sustained. Regardless of how big these incidents are, we in Qatar are ready for every emergency now and in the future." The police chief said the police force received calls on the emergency line on the morning of the earthquake, and, consequently, vehicles of the rescue police (Al Fazaa), traffic, internal security force (Lekhwiya), and civil defense started patrolling streets. In addition to the urgent procedures these apparatuses took, Al Khulaifi said, they raised the level of readiness so as to deal with any incident that may occur. The Ministry of Interior's Public Relations Department was instructed to send clear messages on social networking websites, including Facebook and Twitter, to reassure the public. (QNA)