“Mexico Calling!”-IDF delegation dispatched to Mexico after earthquake

There is precedent.

When the call goes out for help, Israel responds. Today it is Mexico!

Time is always of the essence.

No point arriving when the ‘party’ is over. The whole point is to arrive as soon as possible.

This writer recalls regarding the same neck of the Southern Hemisphere that within hours of the devastating earthquake that struck the impoverished tropical island of Haiti on the 12^th January 2010, Israel’s Prime Minister authorized its Defense Forces Homefront Command Search and Rescue and medical teams to get packing.

Within 72 hours the IDF had established the first field hospital in Port-au-Prince and within six hours were already saving lives. In the two weeks that the IDF served the people of Haiti, they treated over:

– 1,100 people

– conducted 319 successful surgeries

– delivered sixteen babies

The IDF is one of the first countries to send humanitarian delegations to countries hit by natural disasters.

Apart from Haiti in 2010, Israeli disaster relief delegations provided rescue and medical services after an earthquake in Turkey in 1999, a typhoon in the Philippines in 2013 and, most recently, an earthquake in Nepal in 2015.

Last year, the United Nations’ World Health Organization identified Israel as having “the world’s top emergency medical team”.

That latest call came last week from Mexico.

Maelstrom in Mexico

The earthquake – registering 7.1 on the Richter scale – has so far caused 250 fatalities and injured more than 2,000 people.

The IDF dispatched a rescue unit to Mexico City last Thursday to assist in logistical efforts in some of the 38 buildings that completely buckled in the Mexican capital after the earthquake  hit it Tuesday.

The IDF’s rescue unit – nicknamed “Kol Shofar Lamerhak” (“The sound of the Shofar carries afar”) – includes 71 soldiers and officers specializing in construction and engineering.

(*A shofar is an ancient musical horn made of ram’s horn, used for Jewish religious purposes.)    

Although the Mexican authorities made clear they had no need for search & rescue or medical forces so that the team’s primary mission would be assisting in mapping and scanning buildings hit by the quake to ascertain whether they should be demolished or may still be habitable, Lt.-Col. Itamar Cohen – commander of the emergency unit –  revealed that arriving to Mexico City just 36 hours after the quake, allowed “our IDF men to participate in life-saving operations.”

At the time of going to print, rescuers reported the Israeli Home Front Command team was examining wreckage to locate anyone who might still be alive inside, while two additional teams were attempting to do the same in nearby buildings. “We’ll stay here as long as it takes to continue carrying out rescue operations,” said Lt.-Col. Cohen.

From Church to Synagogue

While rescue efforts were still ongoing, one incident was particularly tragic, with a Catholic church collapsing in Atzala, a city in the state of Puebla.

The church was the site of a baptism for a two-month old baby when the earthquake hit. The structure collapsed, killing eleven family members, including the infant herself and three other children. The only survivors were the baby’s father, the priest administering the service, and his assistant.

Escaping such monumental tragedy was a Jewish congregation in Mexica City whose synagogue was severely damaged – its facade completely collapsed. However, the earthquake happened the day before Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) when the synagogue would have been packed with its congregants.

Jewish schools in Mexico City are providing aid to the victims of Tuesday’s earthquake.

World Bnei Akiva representative Shmuel Ben-Adiva was in Mexico City’s Jewish school when the earthquake struck.

“It was a really strong earthquake, and everyone who was in the building went outside,” Ben-Adiva said Tuesday night. “All the phone lines collapsed. Now, the Jewish community is beginning to collect food and supplies for those in need.”

Get Packing

Immediately on receiving a request for assistance following the severe earthquake, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered that assistance and a search and rescue operation be organized and leave for Mexico as soon as possible.

Thirty-six hours later they touched down in Mexico City and were quickly in the thick of it!

Dressed in their kaki military fatigues – some already donning the orange ready-for-action jackets – the Israeli rescue delegation was greeted with spontaneous applause in the streets of a Mexican town on Friday. They were noted to be carrying equipment enabling them to detect cell phone signals in the rubble.

Rubble Rousers

On CNN’s ‘BREAKING NEWS’ Friday night Israeli time, the networks’ on assignment correspondent standing outside a precarious structure conveyed the anxiety of the crowd.

While “heat signals were being received” – indicating the possibility of life beneath the rubble – the correspondent warned that “the building could collapse at any moment.”

It was a race against time.

Burrowing through the rubble was a team of Japanese rescuers, “While members of the Israeli delegation,’ she said, “were positioned on top of the building.”

 

Contrary to the initial instructions from the Mexican authorities not to be involved in actual “search & rescue” or to provide medical treatment, the Israeli delegation were clearly in the thick of it and there is talk of setting up field hospitals.

How long will they stay?

“We’ll stay as long as it takes,” says the Israeli mission’s commander.”

With all this happening over Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year), a resonant sound suddenly punctuated the din of recue work outside a building where an Israeli team was active. For most in the crowd, it was an unusual sound.

Not for those in the Israeli team!

Had they been home, they would have heard that same sound in their synagogues for the New Year service.

It was the loud sound of a Shofar being blown.

Said the Israeli commander in his IDF fatigues:

“We are proud over our New Year to be saving lives thousands of miles from our own country.”

 

 

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Video clips of buildings collapsing during the earthquake