Sunday, May 1, 2011 7:00 p.m.

Post Tsunami

Israeli medical teams aid victims
of Japanese disaster.

An Israeli army doctor prepares to do an ultrasound on a pregnant Japanese
woman.

San Francisco/JTA

A

nother day here in this
devastated village," Dr.
Ofer Merin writes from the
Israeli-run emergency field hospital
where he is working in tsunami-
wracked Japan.
Merin, deputy director-general of
Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical
Center, is the head of surgical opera-
tions at the field hospital set up last
week by the Israel Defense Forces in
Minamisanriku, a town in the Miyagi
Prefecture. Half of the town's 17,000
residents were killed by the tsunami
that followed the massive 9.0-magni-
tude earthquake on March 11.
The IDF flew in an aid delegation of
50 officers and soldiers, including med-
ical personnel, civilian aid workers and
logistics experts, as well as a team from
the Israel Atomic Energy Commission.
"We are seeing more and more
patients," Merin reports on the blog he
is maintaining to chronicle Israeli med-
ical efforts. "Physicians from all around
are coming with their patients for
consults with our specialists, for blood
tests and X-rays. An elderly lady walked
a long distance to reach us. These are
facilities they simply don't have."
While Israelis provide medical help
on the ground in Japan, American
Jewish organizations have brought in
more than $2 million for Japan relief.
The American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee, whose non-

sectarian disaster relief programs
constitute the primary overseas arm
of Jewish federation efforts, has raised
$1.4 million. The money is being used
for equipment and medications at
the IDF field hospital, as well as other
essential services provided by agen-
cies including the International Rescue
Committee, which is sending food, fuel
and other emergency supplies to evac-
uation centers; JEN, a Japanese non-
governmental organization; UNICEF,
which is handling children's needs; and
Chabad, which is providing food, water
bottles and baked goods in Sendai.
Merin reports that the Japanese are
reticent about being treated by foreign
doctors, but that victims started coming
after the town's mayor showed up as the
clinic's first patient. The mayor had suf-
fered chest injuries in the tsunami.
Merin said that daily aftershocks
from the quake continue to rock the
area, "but like everything in life, you
almost get used to them." The hospital
was established near the coastline but
in an elevated area.
The IDF's Home Front Command
and Medical Corps, often the first to
send aid delegations to disaster areas
around the world, have filled key roles
in more than 20 international aid
efforts. They include medical care and
search-and-rescue teams sent to Haiti
after the 2010 earthquake; New Orleans
after Hurricane Katrina in August
2005; and Southeast Asia following the
December 2005 tsunami. 7

Silver Anniversary Concert in honor of

RABBI NORMAN T. ROMAN

RABBI NORMAN T. ROMAN
Twenty-five Years with Temple Kol Ami
Thirty-six Years in the Rabbinate

TEMPLE KOL AMI presents...

Craig Taubman & Josh Nelson

in concert

May 1, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.

at the new

BERMAN CENTER FOR
THE PERFORMING ARTS

Jewish Community Center, West Bloomfield

GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS

Adults: $25 in advance, $36 at the door
tudents: $18 in advance, $25 at the door

To purchase tickets,
email Cheryl@tkolami.org or call 248-661-0040

16E-1290

•nrii 7

2011

39