The IDF Medical and Rescue Team has arrived in Haiti, set up a field hospital in Port-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.
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
To get photographs of IDF operating in Haiti, go to: www.idfspokesperson.com.
Israelis Save Lives; Deliver New Baby at Israeli Field Hospital in Haiti. ZAKA rescue unit in Haiti pulls eight students alive from collapsed university building
The six man ZAKA delegation (four from Israel and two from Mexico) had arrived in Haiti aboard a Mexican air force Hercules, immediately after completing their work in recovery and identification in the Mexico City helicopter crash.
On arrival, the ZAKA delegation was dispatched to the collapsed 8-storey university building where cries could be heard from the trapped students. After 38 hours of work around the clock working with the Mexican military delegation and otehr Jewish volunteers from Mexico, the ZAKA volunteers succeeded Saturday in pulling eight students alive from the rubble.
Amid the stench and chaos, the ZAKA delegation took time out to recite Shabbat prayers - a surreal sight of ultra-orthodox men wrapped in prayer shawls standing on the collapsed buildings. Many locals sat quietly in the rubble, staring at the men as they prayed facing Jerusalem. At the end of the prayers, they crowded around the delegation and kissed the prayer shawls.
The six man ZAKA delegation (four from Israel and two from Mexico) had arrived in Haiti aboard a Mexican air force Hercules, immediately after completing their work in recovery and identification in the Mexico City helicopter crash.
On arrival, the ZAKA delegation was dispatched to the collapsed 8-storey university building where cries could be heard from the trapped students. After 38 hours of work around the clock working with the Mexican military delegation and otehr Jewish volunteers from Mexico, the ZAKA volunteers succeeded Saturday in pulling eight students alive from the rubble.
Amid the stench and chaos, the ZAKA delegation took time out to recite Shabbat prayers - a surreal sight of ultra-orthodox men wrapped in prayer shawls standing on the collapsed buildings. Many locals sat quietly in the rubble, staring at the men as they prayed facing Jerusalem. At the end of the prayers, they crowded around the delegation and kissed the prayer shawls.
IsraAID medical team treats injured in Port-au-Prince Hospital
Just minutes after landing in the airport in Port-au-Prince the IsraAID team was met by David Darg, Operation Blessing Director in the field and his staff and joined with them to unload a planeload of food and medical equipment.
The Israeli medical professionals of IsraAID - F.I.R.S.T. traveled to the main Port-au-prince Hospital to start treating patients, joining local physicians at the site of the collapsed central hospital where thousands of wounded have gathered desperate for help.
"The scenes in the hospital were horrible 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. All of the injured were treated until we came by only one local doctor and we were the first foreign backup team to operate in the hospital." Said Nurse Sheva Cohen from Kibbutz Ein Yahav in the Negev.
When the team arrived at the hospital they found most of the injured outside the building laying in beds in the building's garden, probably out of fear of aftershocks and further collapse. The IsraAID team set up treatment rooms in four empty rooms, treating 60 patients with IV and administered medicine. While in the hospital, an infant with 60% burns died and bodies that had not yet been removed for burial were piled up in back.
In the meantime, the logistical personnel remain in the airport area to set up camp and assist local NGO partners with logistical support for relief items that were continuing to land.
Currently the teams are working around the clock to provide assistance to the injured. In light of the scale of the disaster, IsraAID is currently focused on expanding the scale of its operation, preparing an additional team that would be sent next week.
Be blessed for all the help you are providing to the people of Haiti during our hour of urgent need.
ReplyDeleteThe IDF field hospital is a lesson itself with regard to what other rescue and medical teams need to emulate in days to come as well as in the next several months.
A million thanks to all of the IDF Medical and Rescue Team.
So many of our people (children, women and men) are going to survive their injuries and live through the current crisis becuse of the immediate medical attention and rescue efforts that were offered by the IDF.
Thank you so much and God bless you all.
Rev. Clarel
I, and many Sar-El volunteers in Israel from many countries and of many religions have been packing medical kits at an IDF base for years. I hope that some of our work has ended up in Haiti.
ReplyDeleteIsrael's field hospital was the first on the ground and operating while, offshore, the US Navy's nuclear carrier with three hospitals aboard was virtually empty due to bureaucratic red tape.
It's interesting (and sad) to note that while many other countries sent whatever men and materials they could, the Arab countries sent nothing.
Bless all those who are treating the wounded, rescuing the trapped and feeding the homeless.
Yes, really. And I have faced it.
ReplyDeleteI apologise, but, in my opinion, you are not right. Write to me in PM.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what is not right, please clarify
ReplyDelete