Israel Aid (IsraAid) arrives in fire ravaged Butte County

Just like a good neighbor....

Teams from Israel have arrived in Northern California's Butte County, scene of one of the most ferocious fires in modern memory.  

After a request from local communities, IsraAID will work with local partners to conduct a needs assessment of the population in affected areas, promote community resilience and recovery, and distribute relief items to families after the Camp Fire ravaged their community.

From Israel 21C:

Yotam Polizer, the co-CEO of IsraAID, told ISRAEL21c that a team of four Israelis have already flown out to California, and plan to set up operations in Chico, where many evacuees are now living in tent cities, shelters and even sleeping in their cars.

“We’ve seen a lot of disaster zones over the years, but this is a whole different level of devastation. Everything has been burned to the ground, and there are so many people still missing,” said Polizer, who has just returned from California.

“The search and rescue teams aren’t looking for survivors, they are looking for remains. From a psychological perspective it’s on a whole different scale.

“When we talk to local people we see they are getting support, but there’s very little psycho-social support there. That’s where we are planning to focus our efforts.”

IsraAID’s team will include Israeli and US-based mental health specialists, who will work with partner organizations on-the-ground to support affected communities as they recover and promote community resilience.

Read it all here:

Israeli NGO sends aid to California in wake of unprecedented wildfires

As of 2018, IsraAID has responded to humanitarian crises and natural disasters in 47 countries

Israel sets up field hospital in quake-stricken Ecuador

Hundreds have died in a massive 7.8 earthquake that has devastated regions of Ecuador. In Canoa, 98% of the buildings have been destroyed.

The Israeli disaster relief group IsraAID  arrived in the country several days ago, and used private planes to reach Canoa.  They set up a field hospital  and began operating it on Saturday evening, focusing on immediate care, emergency medical treatment, child friendly spaces and psycho-social care.

Do Israelis give up precious time with their families over the holidays to help those in need?  Yes they do.

You won't read about this in the mainstream media.
Israeli group sets up field hospital in quake-hit Ecuador

Israel: Supplying Aid to the Besieged Kurds

Since 2001 the non-profit, non-governmental organization IsraAID has been first on the front lines of nearly every major humanitarian  disaster in the 21st century, mobilizing  medics, search & rescue squads, post-trauma experts and disaster relief supplies to the worlds most vulnerable people.

 

IsraAID has
-Responded to crises in 25 countries
-Reached over 1,000,000 people
-Distributed over 1,000 tons of relief and medical supplies
-Trained more than 5,000 local professionals
-Mobilized over 800 staff, volunteers, and professionals (among them 200 doctors / nurses and 125 therapists and social workers).

 

Ad now, IsraAid is helping the Kurds as they fight for their survival, supplying beds, blankets and food to over 1,000 Kurdish families in the city of Duhok.

From Israel National News
The emergency supplies could not have come soon enough. Many of those at the camp arrived with only the clothes on their back and are living in nothing more than tents or makeshift huts. As winter approaches their misery has increased still further, with recent rainstorms and cold weather just a harbinger of worse to come: some parts of the region receive a meter of snow on average amid subzero temperatures.

IsraAID's Founding Director Shahar Zahavi told Arutz Sheva that the Israeli team were warmly received by the Kurdish residents of the camp.

"They were aware that we were Israel, and they received us very well. The Kurdish people really love Israel," he said.

Indeed, the Jewish state has good - if somewhat covert - relations with the Kurdish Regional Government in particular, and many Kurds and Israelis see eye-to-eye on crucial issues such as the wave of Islamic fundamentalism sweeping the Middle East, which threatens both nations.

IsraAID has provided aid to disaster zones across the world, from Haiti to Japan, and from the Philipines to South Sudan. But Zahavi explained that the mission to help Kurdish victims of ISIS resonated particularly strongly with them. As the Middle East's only full democracy, Israel has a special duty to aid the Kurds - who are the largest stateless nation in the region - in their struggle for freedom against Islamist forces, Zahavi said.

The mission - which was the first of its kind by an Israeli aid agency - went smoothly enough, and was coordinated with the KRG. But aid workers soon witnessed the extreme conditions faced by refugee when a massive storm tore through the camp, flooding the entire area and destroying many of the tents.

Duhok is part of the autonomous Kurdish region run by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), where nearly two million refugees - including Christians and Yazidis - have fled ISIS's genocidal military campaign.