Stranded by Flooding in Northern India, Israeli Tourists Help Rebuild

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

“It is heart-warming,” said Israeli Consul General in New Delhi Irit Shneor with unabashed pride. “In the heart of the destruction in the Ladakh region, among the demolished cabins, in the somber atmosphere, Israeli trekkers are volunteering around the clock, always with a smile on their lips, giving their all to help the refugees from the disaster area left bruised and wounded, without anything, without shelter.”

Flash floods and mudslides  are wrecking havoc all over south Asia, with India’s neighbor Pakistan suffering immense flooding effecting 1 out of 5 persons and creating devastation comparable to the 2005 tsunami or this year’s earthquake in Haiti.

While the scale of destruction is smaller in the Ladakh region of India, hundreds have been killed and thousands have lost their homes and possessions as a result of flash floods. Many American and Israeli tourists became stranded as the flooding leveled the entire region in which many houses are made of mud brick and could not withstand such water damage.

Hundreds of Israeli backpackers needed to be evacuated, but after arranging flights to get the tourists out of the disaster zone, 200 Israelis refused, choosing to stay and help rebuild what they saw destroyed in front of their own eyes.

Said Shoehr, “Some of the Israelis who served as combat medics in the military volunteered at an improvised hospital set up in the city. Some helped lift boulders and evacuate the rubble from the streets. Israelis make up half of all the foreign volunteers, which is truly impressive.”

Matan Golan is a 28 year old Jerusalemite who joined forces with other tourists and worked to set up a field hospital.” He told Indian television, “I think everyone would have done what we did. This is how we were raised. I don’t think anyone else who had come here and seen the disaster would have said to himself, ‘I’m not connect to this,’ and gone home.”

To read more about what the volunteers are doing to help, click here.

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