Brief: OneDay organization shifts focus to seismic resilience as experts warn Israel faces catastrophic earthquake risk within decades.

While Israel's attention remains focused on military and security challenges, a leading nonprofit is sounding the alarm about what it calls the country's most underestimated existential threat: a catastrophic earthquake that experts say could strike at any time.

OneDay, an Israeli disaster preparedness organization, is launching a major campaign to address the country's vulnerability to seismic events along the Dead Sea Transform fault system, which runs the length of Israel from the Arava to Lebanon. Geological surveys indicate the region is statistically overdue for a major earthquake, with experts warning of a significant event likely within the next several decades.

The organization's concern is rooted in both scientific data and historical precedent. Major earthquakes have struck the region throughout recorded history, including devastating events in 1927 and 1837 that caused widespread destruction and casualties. Modern Israel, however, has developed rapidly without adequate seismic building standards in many areas, particularly in older neighborhoods and cities.

OneDay's initiative comes as building codes and earthquake preparedness protocols in Israel lag behind those of other seismically active countries. While newer construction in Israel follows stricter guidelines, tens of thousands of older residential buildings, schools, and critical infrastructure facilities were built before modern seismic standards were implemented.

The nonprofit is working to raise public awareness, lobby for stricter enforcement of building codes, and develop community-based emergency response networks. Their message emphasizes that unlike military threats, which Israel has become adept at managing, an earthquake would strike without warning and could overwhelm emergency services if the country remains unprepared.

Israel sits atop the Syrian-African Rift, one of the world's major geological fault lines. Scientists estimate that a major earthquake of magnitude 6.5 or higher could cause thousands of casualties and tens of billions of dollars in damage, particularly in densely populated areas like greater Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where older buildings dominate many neighborhoods.