December 31, 2004/Tevet 19 5765, Vol. 57, No. 18
Tsunami relief underwayIsrael, U.S. Jewish groups pitch in to help flood victims
DAN BARON
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 Volunteers from ZAKA, a rescue and recovery organization in Israel, prepare to leave for Thailand. Photo by Uri Barak |
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| Funding for relief efforts |
But this week that post-Zionist nirvana became a nightmare.
The tsunamis that swept India, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands on Dec. 26 plunged hundreds of Israeli families into a frenzy of worry over relatives feared lost while touring.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said Dec. 28 that witness testimony suggested that 60 of some 500 Israeli tourists still unaccounted for in hard-hit Southeast Asian nations may have been swept out to sea and drowned.
At least 33 Israelis are receiving treatment in hospitals in the region, the Foreign Ministry said.
For thousands of families living in or visiting the Indian Ocean region, the Dec. 26 catastrophe confirmed their worst fears: At least 75,000 people were killed by the devastating earthquake and tsunami, mostly in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka.
A Belgian Jewish couple reportedly lost their 11-month-old son in the disaster. According to Israel's Ma'ariv newspaper, Matan Nassima's body was found Dec. 28 near the Thai resort where his family had vacationed.
The child's parents had posted a picture of the boy on the newspaper's Web site after he was swept away during the tsunami, in hopes that Israeli tourists might recognize him and report his whereabouts. Matan's grandfather told Ma'ariv that the toddler would likely be buried in Israel.
Details were not immediately known, but it was also believed that members of the South African, Australian and New Zealand Jewish communities were missing.
Immediately after the tragedy, Israel and Jewish groups swung into action. Israel's Foreign Ministry set aside $100,000 in aid for each of the countries hit by the tsunami. Four top doctors from Israel's Hadassah Hospital were dispatched to Colombo, Sri Lanka, at the ministry's request, Hadassah said. Among them were the hospital's head of general surgery and trauma, its chief of pediatrics and two anesthesiologists.
On Dec. 26, Sri Lanka turned down an Israeli offer to send military personnel to help with search-and-rescue efforts, but said it would accept a smaller team.
The efforts were appreciated by at least one Israeli located bruised but safe at the Thai resort of Phuket.
"Everyone has been great. I have been visited by Israeli diplomatic rep-resentatives, as well as Chabad," Yaron Weiss told Channel Two television from his hospital bed. "I have a feeling that the other tourists here are a bit jealous that their countries are not as attentive."
North American Jewish groups were also paying attention.
The American Jewish World Service was expected to send its first shipment of medicine Dec. 28 to Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India. It has been coordinating with 23 partner organizations in the region to assess needs on the ground.
Ronni Strongin, the AJWS director of public relations, said one of the largest immediate needs is expected to be water because corpses have contaminated the water supply.
The group is hoping to receive donations to cover the cost of emergency supplies.
"The phones keep ringing off the hook," Strongin said. "It looks like people are truly responding."
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is working with its office in Bombay and elsewhere to coordinate relief efforts. The organization is hoping to provide food, water, clothing and shelter to countries affected by the earthquake and tsunamis.
B'nai B'rith also is accepting donations to help victims.
Chabad of Thailand responded to the crisis by dispatching a rabbi to Phuket to aid rescue efforts, and turned the three Chabad Houses of Thailand into crisis centers where survivors can call home, have a free meal or receive funds for new clothing and medical help.
For families of potential victims, the waiting for news was excruciating.
At Erez Katran's home in Haifa, a 24-hour vigil was set up next to the telephone in hopes that he would call. His family hoped Katran's silence was due to the fact that he was incommunicado while sailing in the Bay of Bengal.
"We are definitely feeling the pressure," said Katran's older brother, Micha. "If we don't hear something by Wednesday night, my father and I will head out to India, to try to locate him somehow."
Katran was among nearly 200 Israelis who remained unaccounted for Dec. 28, despite urgent Foreign Ministry efforts to track them down. Israeli officials put their best face on what was emerging as a crisis of global proportion.
"Telephone communication in this region is very hard. Most of the infrastructure has collapsed," said Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, the Foreign Ministry's deputy director-general. "We are working around the clock, with a small team, to cover a huge area, trying to locate Israelis and bring them to safe shores."
But hearts across the Jewish state sank as reports surfaced from the hardest-hit coastal resorts.
In addition to delivering bad news, the Israeli communications industry pitched in with the search efforts.
Every major Web site set up a page where pictures of missing tourists could be posted in hope that someone would report their location, and one cellphone company offered its Israeli customers in Southeast Asia 10 minutes of free airtime to call home.
JTA staff writer Matthew E. Berger in Washington contributed to this report.