The main nerve center for Israel’s primary emergency service could resemble any dispatch hub in any American city — a hive of uniformed first-responders surrounded by ceiling-height monitors and an expanse of computers.
But Magen David Adom’s dispatch unit in Ramla, about 12 miles southeast of Tel Aviv, is more than 100 feet underground, safeguarded by thick walls and a sophisticated respirator system capable of providing clean air in case of conventional and nonconventional attacks.
“You wouldn’t imagine any other emergency services, civilian emergency services, in the world working in a shelter. But for us, this is a need, a basic need,” said Uri Shacham, MDA’s deputy director and chief of staff. The MDA’s role, he said, was “to make sure that no matter what happens outside, no matter how challenging the situation, this brain actually continues to function.”
