Author(s)

Said Ali El-Quliti¹, Tawfiq Bin Saeed Al-Harbi², Mahdi Bin Salem Al-Yami³, Ahmed Bin Matar Al-Ghamdi⁴, Mohammed Bin Mattar Al-Shammari⁵

¹Department of Industrial Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, KSA.
²Department of Geophysics at the National Center for Earthquakes and Volcanoes, Saudi Geological Survey, Jeddah, KSA.
³Natural Studies and Natural Consulting Company, Jeddah, KSA.
⁴Fire and Rescue Division of the General Directorate of Civil Defense in Jeddah, Jeddah, KSA.
⁵Department of Fire and Rescue Services, Civil Aviation Authority Province of Hail, Jeddah, KSA.

The research tackles earthquakes as one of the most dangerous natural disasters. It defines disasters in general, which in turn include earthquakes, how to manage them, stages of their evolution, and their classification among other kinds of disasters such as hurricanes, floods, drought, desertification, etc. Afterwards, it tackles the impacts of disasters on man, buildings and infrastructure. It defines also the codes and laws existing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to confront and treat the impacts of earthquakes in their different stages (before, during and after) and the authorities involved in managing them. Then, it moves to study the case of Al-Ais Earthquake, and identifies the points of deficiency in dealing with such a disaster. Moreover, the research tackles some global experiences in how to handle the situation, reaching to the presentation of a conceptual approach to confront disasters of earthquakes in their various stages.

Earthquake, Disaster Management, Al-Ais, Saudi Arabia

El-Quliti, S. , Al-Harbi, T. , Al-Yami, M. , Al-Ghamdi, A. and Al-Shammari, M. (2016) Earthquake Disaster Management Approach: The Case of Al-Ais, Medina Area in Saudi Arabia. Open Journal of Earthquake Research, 5, 219-235. doi: 10.4236/ojer.2016.54018.