Article 1 of the Saudi Civil Defense Law

This article is the entry point to understanding the whole Civil Defense Law, since it sets the meaning of "civil defense" and the scope of its work. According to its text, it is the set of measures and work needed to achieve several purposes:

• Protecting people and public and private property from the dangers of fires, disasters, wars and various accidents.
• Relief for disaster victims.
• Securing the safety of transport and communications and the running of work in public facilities.
• Protecting the sources of national wealth.

This covers peacetime and situations of war and emergency together, so civil defense is not confined to times of war.

The article then lists examples of this work, and states that they are by way of example and not exhaustive, meaning other things may fall within civil defense. These examples include:

• Regulating the rules and means of warning of dangers and air raids, and preparing volunteers.
• Regulating safety and industrial security rules, firefighting, rescue, first aid and relief.
• Preparing and equipping civil defense units, restricting lighting and traffic, and evacuation and shelter plans in war and emergencies.
• Setting up operations rooms, building and managing public shelters, and supervising private shelters.
• Storing the materials and equipment needed to sustain life, and measures to avoid disasters and remove their effects, including cash relief or otherwise.
• Using the media to achieve civil defense objectives.

Article 2 complements this definition by defining a "disaster" as any fire, collapse, flood, storm, earthquake or other accident that causes harm or threatens the lives of individuals or public or private property.