ABSTRACT
Resilience for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was part of His Highness Sheikh Zayed the founder's vision for the UAE when it was formed in 1971. Consequently, national, and local (Emirate) governments adopt established standards and regulations and work with institutions that integrate robust training, testing, and exercises, to enhance their response capabilities in protecting Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR). Rabdan Academy (RA) is an academic institution established in 2015 to train the next generation of youth in safety, security, defense, emergency, and crisis management (SSDEC) disciplines. Most RA students are employed and sponsored by local and national level agencies that contribute to Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience (CIPR) efforts in the UAE. This paper aims at providing the reader with a brief overview of UAE's CIPR policies and efforts, followed by an examination of how RA faculty have integrated the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) methods and CIPR concepts into various undergraduate level courses to enhance practical learning. Specifically, it details the creation and implementation of a simulated operational exercise using WebEOC a crisis management software (CMS). It demonstrates the advantages and limitations for student learning through role-playing in a virtual emergency operations center (EOC) exercise. Sixty-five after action reports (AARs) submitted by students are examined and highlight that most of the students felt the scenario(s), the injects, and the WebEOC platform, added realism and provided an authentic learning environment, communicating between players was easy, and this was a good preparation for their careers. Limitations included information communications technology (ICT) issues, and a sense of isolation from peers due to COVID-19 enforced distance learning. The article concludes with future directions for research and the implications of using such tools for teaching CIPR, business continuity management, emergency management, and homeland security management. Suggestions are made to create communities of practice with the help of the alumni network, to practice innovative technologies and exercise and evaluation skills.
ABSTRACT
Mass gatherings for sporting events, music shows, and religious needs continue to grow in our urban areas, requiring local authorities to develop safety procedures to mitigate the challenges of keeping the attendees safe. These challenges are even more pronounced at pilgrimage venues where social distancing and contact avoidance are difficult as pilgrims are required to perform various rituals in close proximity with others, in a sequential manner, either daily or weekly, as per their religious tenets. Over two million pilgrims attend the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia annually. Keeping the local and visiting pilgrims safe from crowd crush, sunstroke, skin infections, recurrence of prior medical issues, and contagious diseases requires the Saudi government to allocate huge investments for health communication and prevention programs every year. However, there is no evidence to date that has empirically tested whether Hajj pilgrims' are able to receive such information and are subsequently adopting various health promoting behaviors. This study aims to do that by framing it within the Health Belief Model. Data collected and analyzed from 245 pilgrims in Makkah between September 9th-19th, 2017 suggests that roughly 48% of the pilgrims adopted all five protective measures. However, language barriers, limited health care facilities, and difficulties in purchasing prescription mediciens were cited as impediments to adopting healthy measures. The study concludes with recommendations for the KSA government agencies, Hajj authorities, Mission authorities and pilgrims, during various phases of travel-- i.e. pre-travel, during the pilgrimage and post-travel, in light of new emerging health threats.