Israeli rescuers are taking part in the search for the survivors of a deadly earthquake that struck Mexico Tuesday, killing nearly 300 people and destroying dozens of buildings in the capital city and surrounding states.
The delegation of 71 soldiers and officers, mostly reservists in the IDF’s Home Front Command and the Israel Air Force, is headed by Col.(res.) Dudi Mizrahi, Commander of the National Search and Rescue Unit in the Home Front Command.
Mizrachi briefed Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman Friday on the activities of the delegation, explaining that they have worked on a number of large sites — including offices and a school — since they arrived in the devastated city with cutting edge technology to aid in the efforts.
Nicknamed “Kol Shofar Lamerhak” (“The sound of the Shofar carries afar”), the delegation landed Thursday. Its mission: to assist in the mapping and scanning of buildings damaged by the quake to determine whether they are at risk of collapse.
“We left our homes ahead of the holiday (of Rosh Hashana) but priority is always given to such a mission — to save lives, even if it is thousands of kilometers from home,” Mizrachi said. “It is a great honor for us to be part of this effort.”
The delegation, which left Israel Wednesday, is made up of mostly structural engineers. Mexican authorities made it clear they did not need search and rescue or medical forces.
In November, Israel’s emergency medical response team was recognized by the United Nations as the “number one in the world,” and classified as its first “Type 3” field hospital.
By receiving the Type 3 classification, Israeli teams will be the first on the scene of any disaster. Israel was the first foreign emergency medical team to receive such a classification, which has a strict set of criteria created by the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify foreign medical teams during sudden disasters.
The WHO’s classification system describes a Type 3 medical team as having “at least 2 operating tables in two separate rooms within the theater area, at least 40 inpatient beds (20 per table) and have the capability to treat 15 major or 30 minor surgical cases a day.”
Israel’s field hospitals, which can be set up in under 12 hours, can hold 86 inpatient beds and 4 operating rooms.
Israel has often aided countries struck by natural disasters, sending teams from the IDF Medical Corps and Home Front Command to provide search and rescue and medical aid in field hospitals in countries such Haiti, the Philippines, Japan, Turkey and Nepal.
Non-military teams, including ZAKA and iAID, have also joined in the rescue efforts in Mexico, working with the IDF delegation and local officials.
“iAID is in touch with its local partners and UN officials who are monitoring the current crisis on the ground,” said Shachar Zahavi, the founding director of the iAID, which sent 15 members of its international emergency response team to Mexico.
The IDF delegation is slated to return to Israel on September 29 ahead of the Yom Kippur holiday.
Tuesday’s tragedy comes two weeks after an 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the southern Pacific coast of Mexico leaving close to 100 dead in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas. The quake, which rattled the capital of Mexico city as well as the states of Morelos, Puebla Guerrero and Oaxaca, struck on the anniversary of the deadly 1985 quake that killed at least 5,000 people just hours after the country drilled on earthquake preparedness.
Article source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/High-Court-A-G-protests-can-go-on-but-with-attendance-limit-503368
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