NOVANEWS
Israel Hayom
The Israel Defense Forces’ 148-member disaster relief team arrived in the Philippines on Wednesday, six days after Typhoon Haiyan caused widespread devastation. The team, which landed in the northern Cebu province, immediately began attending to the local population’s medical needs.
Cebu was among the hardest hit areas. Only Tacloban City suffered worse damages. The team is led by the commander of the Homefront Command’s National Search and Rescue Unit, Col. Ramtin Sabti, and IDF Medical Corps Vice Surgeon-General Col. Dr. Dudu Dagan.
“An advanced multi-department medical facility, equipped with approximately 100 tons of humanitarian and medical supplies from Israel, will be rapidly established in the city of Tacloban to provide medical care for disaster casualties,” the IDF said on its English website. “The facility will [comprise] a children’s department, a women’s department, an ambulatory care department, and a general admission department, operated by IDF doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, mental health professionals, x-ray technician, and lab workers.”
“We are here to help the local population,” Sabti told Israel Hayom on Wednesday. “We have come to help them pick up the pieces and be able to lead the life they were used to. I am glad we managed to set up this team in such short notice.”
Dagan echoed Sabti, saying the team was “coordinating their activities with the Philippine government of and other international partner agencies; this coordinated response is designed to create the best possible response and meet the needs of the population, which so desperately needs us now.”
A source in the Foreign Ministry said there is only one Israeli who has yet to be contacted in the affected areas.
Authorities say the official body count stood at 2,344 as of Wednesday.
U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos is also in the Philippines.
The security in the area is declining, with growing reports of looting. Earlier this week a major gunfight erupted between security forces and armed gunmen who tried to take food from local stores and warehouses near Tacloban City.
