Title: Emergency volunteering in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: current and future trends

Authors: Mohamad H. Alzaghal; Naill Mohammad Momani

Addresses: Excellence in Business Continuity and Crises Management (EBCCM), P.O. Box 541229, Amman 11937, Jordan ' Business Continuity and Integrated Emergency Management, Rabdan Academy, P.O. Box 114646, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Abstract: Volunteerism in emergency situations has proved its importance for responding stakeholders and victims. First responders community (FRC) may use the resources and expertise offered by volunteers in all domains of services provided for the people affected by the disaster, which will lessen the human and monetary losses. In this paper, volunteering in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) current and future trends are discussed in the context of the economic and in social development especially focusing on the pilgrimage season 'Hajj' as the core of volunteering efforts in KSA. A volunteer system for disaster management in KSA is proposed to enhance mitigation and response capabilities for future disasters in KSA.

Keywords: volunteerism; economic development; social development; CSOs; civil society organisations; volunteering systems; FRC; first responders community; trusted reporters; VOLAG; voluntary agencies ICS; incident command systems; emergency volunteering; Saudi Arabia; emergency management; pilgrimage season; Hajj; KSA; disaster management; emergency response; pilgrims; Islam.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2017.083114

International Journal of Emergency Management, 2017 Vol.13 No.2, pp.160 - 168

Received: 17 Jun 2015
Accepted: 21 Sep 2015
Published online: 21 Mar 2017 *

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