However, IDF will remain in the country for as long as it is needed there and will provide assistance and support in various ways to the local population. The delegation has begun, as part of a broad international effort, to bring hundreds of thousands of Port-au-Prince residents to tent cities outside of the capital. Three water towers with a capacity of up to 12,000 liters of water each, were built by the delegation’s representatives in order to supply the residents with a water infrastructure. Shelters and tents have also been constructed in order to provide refuge for those who have lost their homes. Israeli civil engineers also opened central traffic routes that had been blocked in the aftermath of the earthquake.
As of 23 January:
• 739 people have been treated in the hospital, among them dozens of children
• 241 life-saving operations have been performed
• 12 babies have been born in the hospital
On January 20, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman requested that Minister of Public Security Yitzhak Aharonovitch authorize the Israel Police to allocate a delegation of police officers to assist the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti.
FM Liberman advised Minister Aharonovitch that an international peacekeeping force is one of the most urgent and important requirements for coping with the disaster in Haiti in view of the breakdown of government rule. The United States has requested that Israel consider sending a contingent of police officers to join the international force which will be deployed in Haiti in the near future. The Israeli contingent will be comprised of 10-15 police officers.
In his conversation with Minister Aharonovitch, FM Liberman stated that Israeli aid to Haiti not only expresses moral values of the highest order, but is also a Jewish and Israeli tradition that provides the opportunity to demonstrate Israel’s commitment to international efforts to assist disaster victims. This is in addition to Israel’s previous contribution, in which the country was one of the first to send relief assistance to the island.
Updates from the field
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After nearly 10 days, an Israeli Search and Rescue team saved a 22-year-old Haitian man, Emanuel Bito, from the ruins of a three-story building, near the presidential residence in the southern side of the city. The man was transferred to the IDF field hospital in stable condition and is currently receiving further medical care.
A search conducted by Population Management officers from the Home Front Command, headed by Lt. Col. Rami Peletz, were directed to the location of the trapped man by local residents. "American and French doctors were unable to rescue the trapped man and called upon the Israeli delegation’s search and rescue teams who rescued the man within half an hour, from a tunnel, 2.5-3-meters long and were able to release him whole and healthy," said Maj. Zohar Moshe, a member of the rescue team.
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Mike, a four year old Hatian boy, was brought to the IDF field hospital in Port-au-Prince this morning by his father because of vomiting and weakness. Mike, his two siblings and his parents had been living on the street since the earthquake because their house was destroyed.
Dr. Amit Assa ran blood tests, and diagnosed him with acute myelogenous leukemia, most likely M5. Given the diagnosis, Mike will most likely need chemotherapy and probably a bone marrow transplant.
Because the IDF field hospital is not equipped to deal with such long-term and complex treatments, and because his condition was urgent, we tried to find an organization to arrange for him to go to the United States and recieve treatment there. There was an pick up Mike and take him to Miami Hospital where he will be recieving treatment for his cancer overwhelming and rapid response from many different individuals and organizations, and a few hours ago a group called "God’s Planet" came to the field hospital to.
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The IDF field hospital in Haiti has a fully equipped childrens department with 9 pediatrics doctors, where the young victims of the earthquake which devastated Haiti over a week ago, are being treated. Dozens of children have been treated at the hospital, including two young siblings who were rescued from the rubble after seven days by an American search and rescue team. The brother and sister were in good condition, and were released from the Israeli field hospital later the same day.