Hebron Municipality responded to 372 emergency calls on the first day of the severe weather episode which hit Palestine last week. Most calls were for transporting sick people to hospital, homes affected by snow and torrents, citizens and vehicles stranded by snow, providing medicine and bread for suburban dwellers, transporting hospital staff as well as re-opening and securing roads using municipal equipments and snow clearing units.
Moreover, Hebron Municipality responded to 189 electricity supply-related calls to restore power to homes after the failure of internal electrical lines or of transmission and low voltage grids. Municipal crews charged pre-paid home electricity meters through a mobile unit.
Hebron Municipality had advised inhabitants against using their vehicles as of eight p.m. It then published a detailed Hebron plan showing the safest roads to use in case of serious emergency and asked citizens to contact the Municipal Operation Room should they need assistance or for the delivery of basic staples to their homes. Several cases of car slides were recorded while many vehicles were stranded in the snow, hindering municipal efforts and prompting the Municipal Operation Room to request citizens not to use their vehicles till the next morning.
Hebron Mayor Dr. Daoud Zatari supervised the work of the Operation Room and called for dealing with emergency calls according to an order of priority. Top priority was given to the re-opening of roads, mainly those leading to hospitals and health care centers. He lauded Hebron Municipality staff who had to work around the clock with ed rest hours. Dr. Zatari asked inhabitants to cooperate with municipal staff to save lives and properties throughout this bad weather episode. He also called on inhabitants to rationalize the use of electricity to ensure power provision to all parts of the city including the concession area, urging them to respect all directives from the Operation Room.