Six Months After Haiti Earthquake, Israel Continues Aid Mission
The death toll and destruction caused by the January 12th earthquake shocked the entire world. Israel was one of the first on the ground and set up a high-tech field hospital that proved invaluable to thousands of those who survived. Whether the survivors consider themselves lucky is an entirely different matter. The earthquake and dozens of aftershocks which followed killed an estimated 230,000 people, with even more injured and a million people homeless.
One of the 300,000 people injured was 19 year-old Sounlove Zamour. She lost both her legs, and a father on January 12th. With a country literally in ruins, there are no words to describe the difficulty a double amputee faces being wheelchair bound in a city without infrastructure.
Sounlove’s struggles and hardships are, sadly, the norm in Haiti. But she is one of the lucky ones, having caught the attention of many after being featured in a February article in the Los Angeles Times. One of the readers who wanted to help was Jack Saltzberg, who is executive director for a Los Angeles-based organization affiliated with Israel’s Sheba Medical Center.
Thanks to the hard work by Haitian officials and Israeli diplomats working in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Sounlove will soon be on her way to Tel Aviv for a new pair of legs, four months paid recovery and rehabilitation, and just maybe, a second chance.
Of course, Israel is not alone in Haiti. Israel is a part of the international community and answered the call along with so many other nations. The United Nations recently called on member nations to extend aid to Haiti in the form of police officers to maintain public order on the island. Israel is sending 14 officers who have a great deal of experience, including a policewoman who served as part of the UN peacekeeping force in Georgia. The Israeli police officers will be working alongside Italy’s officers.
They say the earthquake directly impacted 3 million people’s lives in Haiti, but on an emotional level it reached the entire world. While Haiti has disappeared from the headlines, its people are still in dire need of help. With thousands of victims still struggling with injuries and an entire region still lacking adequate infrastructure, neither Israel nor Italy nor the United Nations has any intention of forgetting about the Haitian people.
To read more about Sounlove Zamour’s amazing journey, see this article in the Los Angeles Times.
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