Tsunami Tragedy
Jews work to help victims,' Israeli tourists unaccounted Or.
DAN BARON
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Haifa
of young Israelis,
111 or the thousands
sun-drenched archipelagos
of Southeast Asia were the per-
fect destination for long treks in
which to forget the rigors of military
service.
But this week, that post-Zionist nir-
vana became a nightmare.
The tsunamis that swept India,
Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Andaman
Islands on Sunday plunged hundreds
of Israeli families into a frenzy of
worry over relatives feared lost while
touring.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said
Tuesday that witness testimony sug-
gested at least a dozen of the hundreds
of Israeli tourists still unaccounted for
in hard-hit Southeast Asian nations
may have been swept out to sea and
drowned.
A least 33 Israelis are receiving treat-
ment in hospitals in the region, the
Foreign Ministry said.
For thousands of families living in
or visiting the Indian Ocean region,
Sunday's catastrophe confirmed their
worst fears. As of Tuesday, at least
60,000 people were estimated to have
been killed by the devastating earth-
quake-driven tsunami, mostly in
Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka.
Locally, former members of Sara
Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center in
West Bloomfield — Irene Gailor and
her two children who now live in
Greece — were vacationing in Sri
Lanka but were not in danger, said
Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg. It might
have been different if husband, Ben,
who likes to take the family to the
beach, had been with them.
"Ben said if he had not had to
remain behind in Greece, the family
would have been killed because they
would have gone to one of the beaches
that was destroyed," the rabbi said.
A Belgian Jewish couple reportedly
lost their 11-month-old son in the dis-
aster. According to Israel's Ma'ariv
newspaper, Matan Nassima's body was
found Tuesday near the Thai resort
where his family had vacationed.
The child's parents had posted a pic-
ture of the boy on the newspaper's
Web site after he was swept away dur-
ing the tsunami, in hopes that Israeli
tourists might recognize him and
report his whereabouts. Matan's
grandfather told Makriv that the tod-
dler would likely be buried in Israel.
Though details were not immediate-
ly known, it also is believed that mem-
bers of the South African, Australian
and New Zealand Jewish communities
were missing as well.
Immediately after the tragedy, Israel
and Jewish groups swung into action.
Israel's Foreign Ministry set aside
Relatives of a tsunami victim cry before the coffin in Koralawella, Sri Lanka.
$100,000 in aid for each of the coun-
tries hit by the tsunami. Four top doc-
tors from Israel's Hadassah Hospital
were dispatched to Colombo, Sri
Lanka, at the ministry's request,
Hadassah said. Among them were the
hospital's head of general surgery and
trauma, its chief of pediatrics and two
anesthesiologists.
On Tuesday, Sri Lanka turned down
an Israeli offer to send military per-
sonnel to help with search-and-rescue
efforts, but said it would accept a
smaller team.
A Zaka rescue and recovery team of
20 volunteers left Israel for Thailand
armed with search and rescue equip-
ment and tools for identifying bodies.
Another team of 16 Zaka volunteers is
ready to head to India and the
Andaman Islands.
The efforts were appreciated by at
least one Israeli located bruised but
TSUNAMI on page 14
12/31
2004