Members of the Maguen David Adom delegation to Houston, who joined the American Red Cross to provide humanitarian aid to the population affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas, testify to destruction and serious damage and to the situation in the Jewish communities in the region. “Those who are worthy of appreciation have left their families during the holidays and are helping those in need "
Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in August, causing damage and affecting about a million people. The arm of the Red Cross in Israel joined the American organization and the delegation of MDA and joined efforts to aid in the distribution of food, humanitarian reviews, psychological and physical assistance to the injured and the transfer of emergency shelters.
Since Hurricane Harvey, there have been other natural disasters, and people tend to think that the emergency situation is over when the storm gets weaker and the weather stabilizes, but the members of the delegation testify differently and tell about the help they gave to the residents who lost all their homes and property.
Today, there are still rivers overflowing and a number of flooded areas. In many neighborhoods, the sewage system has collapsed. And thousands of, now, homeless citizens have had to find alternative housing solutions, such as nine Red Cross shelters, 16 permanent feeding centers and nine kitchens preparing food for 44 distribution vehicles. These solutions provide 30,000 food rations per day and this number is expected to increase to 60,000, as more people return to the area and want to care for their homes and property. Houses that lack water electricity and sewage infrastructure are not suitable for housing at this stage. This assistance is essential in order to enable the residents to return their homes to a habitable situation.
In addition to helping the general community, the delegation visited the Jewish communities in order to help them. The senior paramedics in MDA, Haim Dagan and Itzik Mor, said: "When we toured the Jewish communities, we saw synagogues and institutions that suffered tremendous damage. The synagogue, which also houses kindergartens and schools, almost completely ruined. Outside the buildings were containers with piles of holy books, tefillin and arrangements that were damaged from the water and intended for Geniza. "
The head of the delegation, MDA Paramedic Tomer Kaplan, says that apart from helping the population, the aid was also a learning experience: "We must be prepared for such a horrific scenario in Israel, and to see and learn for ourselves how a developed country is coping with a large-scale disaster. "
Credits: Zaki Heller
MDA Spokesperson
