Zaka volunteers help out in
Haiti
JERUSALEM - An Israel Defense Forces medical and rescue team has set up a field
hospital and begun treating earthquake-stricken Haitians.
The Israeli field hospital became operational on Saturday.
At the start of Sunday's regular Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the
Israeli team had already treated hundreds of patients. "I think that this is in the best tradition of the Jewish People; this is the true covenant of the State of Israel and the Jewish People,"
he said.
"This follows operations we have carried out in Kenya and Turkey; despite being a small country, we have responded with a big heart. The fact is, I know, that this was an expression of our
Jewish heritage and the Jewish ethic of helping one's fellow. I hope that the team saves lives and that Haiti succeeds in recovering from this awful tragedy."
Israeli medical professionals of IsraAID - F.I.R.S.T. traveled to the main Port-au-Prince Hospital over the
weekend to start treating patients, joining local physicians at the site of the collapsed central hospital where thousands of wounded have gathered looking for help.
A search and rescue team from the ZAKA International Rescue Unit on Saturday pulled eight Haitian college
students from a collapsed eight-story university building.
Tens of thousands of Haitians are believed to be dead following Tuesday's devastating
earthquake.
Mati Goldstein, head of the ZAKA International Rescue Unit delegation managed to send an e-mail to the ZAKA
headquarters in Jerusalem, in which he writes of the ?Shabbat from hell. Everywhere, the acrid smell of bodies hangs in the air.
It's just like the stories we are told of the Holocaust ? thousands of bodies everywhere. You have to understand that the situation is true madness, and the more time passes, there are more and
more bodies, in numbers that cannot be grasped. It is beyond comprehension.?
Photos courtesy
Israel Sun and Zaka
Israel's Education Ministry announced Sunday that all of the country's middle and high school students will
take part in a special lesson about the Haiti earthquake on Tuesday morning. The lesson will be taught online.
Donations continue to pour into United Jewish Appeal's Hope for Haiti Disaster Relief Fund, which has so far raised over $200,000 for the victims of the devastating earthquake.
The funds are supporting an IsraAID team of medical staff from Israel currently on the ground in Haiti. As a result of the generous response for donations, IsraAID is expanding the scale of its
operation, preparing an additional team to be sent next week.
IsraAID is a coordinating body of Israeli and Jewish NGOs in Israel that that has provided humanitarian aid worldwide. United Jewish Appeal has previously supported IsraAID'S work following the
Peru Earthquake, on the border of Darfur, following the earthquake in Pakistan and after Hurricane Katrina, in addition to disaster relief following the cyclone in Burma and the typhoon in the
Philippines.
The 15 member IsraAID team is currently working at the site of the collapsed central hospital in Port-au-Prince where thousands of wounded have gathered desperate for help.
"We saw people everywhere on the floors in the building and outside, people with amputations and bone-deep wounds, hundreds of them, the size of the catastrophe is unbelievable. Until we arrived,
all of the injured were treated by only one local doctor and we were the first foreign backup team to operate in the hospital," said IsraAID volunteer nurse Sheva Cohen.
IsraAID personnel are also present in the airport to assist local NGO partners with logistical support for relief items that continue to arrive.
Donations to United Jewish Appeal's Hope for Haiti Disaster Relief Fund can be made through
www.ujadonations.com/haiti or by calling 416-631-5705. 100% of the funds raised are being directed to IsraAID.
Donations to United Jewish Appeal's Hope for Haiti Disaster Relief Fund are eligible to be matched by the Canadian government. Matching dollars will be allocated to Canada's Haiti Earthquake
Relief Fund.
UJA Federation of Greater Toronto is the central Jewish community organization in Toronto.
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As of 2:30 on Friday, January 15, $17,380 has been donated through the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg for the
Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.
Additionally, the Federation has donated $1,000 from its own funds.
100 per cent of this money will go directly to relief efforts in Haiti. Estimates by the American Red Cross indicate that 50,000 people have died from the disaster, which struck earlier this
week.
"We are very concerned about the devastation that has affected millions of lives in Haiti," said Ben Cohen, President of the Federation. "Our community has once again demonstrated our mission of
Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). I cannot thank Winnipeggers enough for their outpouring of support."
The Jewish Federation of Winnipeg is continuing to accept donations to the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. Donations can be made as follows:
? Online at http://www.jewishwinnipeg.org
? By phone at (204) 477-7428
? In person to our offices at the Asper Jewish Community Campus
? By mail to: Jewish Federation of Winnipeg C300-123 Doncaster St. Winnipeg, MB R3N 2B2
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To watch a video of IDF forces operating in Haiti, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk'blend=1&ob=4#p/a/u/0/NdplDDY9MGA
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IDF Medical and Rescue Team has set up a Field Hospital, Beginning to Rescue and Treat
Hundreds
The IDF Medical and Rescue Team has arrived in Haiti, set up a field hospital
inPort-Au-Prince and is beginning to treat patients there. In addition, the forces are locating and rescuing survivors trapped in ruined buildings, including many who were injured during the
collapse of the UN headquarters.
The field hospital is prepared to receive dozens of ambulances evacuating injured children from the different
disaster struck areas. Between Friday night and Saturday, dozens of truckloads of medical and logistical equipment were unloaded and the field hospital set up.
The Israeli delegation landed in the capital of Port-Au-Prince yesterday evening and has located
itself in a soccer field near the air port. Upon arrival, C4I teams deployed communications infrastructure in preparations for the hospital 's establishment.
Two teams, comprised of search and rescue personnel and canine operators from the IDF canine
unit were sent out on rescue missions. The first team was sent to the Haiti UN headquarters in order to assist in rescuing survivors.
The rescue teams are working in cooperation with local authorities in order to reach disaster struck areas
where survivors can be located and assisted.
The delegation is scheduled to stay in Haiti for a minimum of two weeks. Further stay will be
assessed at the end of this period.
