The General Command of Civil Defense, ministry of interior, in coordination with its regional departments, has launched a campaign "Culture of building evacuation". 

The drive is meant to ensure the safety of lives and property, to enhance preparedness in various locations, and to measure response of the units involved in evacuation during emergencies. 

General Commander of Civil Defense, Major General Jassim Al Marzouqui noted that the campaign is launched as part of the awareness plan earlier unrolled by the Command for 2017, and in line with the implementation of the environment, health and occupational safety management system which was stemmed from the ministry of interior's strategy; in order to check preparedness to deal with incidents, to promote successful partnership with the community segments and institutions, and to publish the culture of protection and safety among the community members. 

The civil defense stations at the countywide level have implemented 1978 evacuation drills last year, compared to 1245 drills in 2015, revealed Al Marzouqui. Many locations have witnessed such drills such as Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Al Salam street tunnel in Abu Dhabi, the building of the Federal Police School in Sharjah, Al Zawara station in Ajman, RAK mall in Ras Al Khaimah, and three schools in Umm Al Quwain, said Al Marzouqui. 

He indicated that the General command of Civil Defense and its regional departments, in collaboration with a number for government and private organizations, have prepared an integrated program for mock evacuation drills for 2017, in accordance with the best world practices. These plans target all commercial, industrial, health, education and touristic sectors. 

The mock drills will be carried out according to the steps followed in real fire incidents, he said. These steps are: immediate reporting of the incident, evacuation of the building, proceeding to the assembly point, checking the number of persons to see if there are still some inside, arrival of civil defense and emergency vehicles to maintain the safety of persons and rescue those injured, before extinguishing the fire. 

He called on the police officers and personnel working at the civil defense stations to make extra efforts to protect the nation and to keep the UAE civil defense a model for delivery of the highest standards of prevention and safety.