Brief: OneDay organization warns that Israel's earthquake risk poses existential danger requiring immediate national action beyond current security concerns.

An Israeli nonprofit organization is sounding the alarm about what it considers the country's most underestimated existential threat: a major earthquake that experts say is overdue to strike the region.

OneDay, a disaster preparedness organization, is working to shift public attention and resources toward seismic readiness, arguing that while Israel has developed world-class capabilities to address military threats, the nation remains dangerously unprepared for a catastrophic earthquake along the Dead Sea Transform fault system.

The organization's focus comes as geological surveys have consistently warned that the region is statistically overdue for a significant seismic event. The fault line, which runs along Israel's eastern border through the Jordan Valley, has historically produced major earthquakes approximately every 80-100 years. The last major quake occurred in 1927, killing hundreds and causing widespread destruction across the region.

According to reports in eJewishPhilanthropy, OneDay is mobilizing both domestic and international Jewish philanthropic support to fund earthquake preparedness initiatives, including building retrofits, emergency response training, and public education campaigns. The organization emphasizes that unlike military threats, which Israel has proven adept at addressing through technological innovation and strategic planning, earthquake preparedness requires different types of infrastructure investment and public readiness.

Israeli building codes have been updated in recent decades to require earthquake-resistant construction for new buildings, but thousands of older structures across the country—particularly in major population centers—remain vulnerable to collapse in a major seismic event. The organization warns that a significant earthquake could cause casualties and economic damage far exceeding those of any recent military conflict.

The Dead Sea Transform is part of the larger Syrian-African Rift system, a major geological fault zone that has shaped the region's topography for millions of years. Beyond the immediate threat to Israeli population centers, a major earthquake would also pose challenges to critical infrastructure, including water systems, power grids, and transportation networks essential to national security and economic stability.