For first time, gov’t to grant funds to ZAKA

ZAKA, the voluntary rescue and recovery organization, will for the first time receive funding from the Treasury, according to a decision made Wednesday by the social cabinet.

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz chairs the body.

The decision did not name ZAKA – which was founded during the second intifada – as the sole recipient, or state the size of the allocations, but described the organization’s activities in handling deceased people who were victims of incidents resulting in unnatural deaths. The money will go toward round-the-clock efforts to help victims of disasters, as well as the recruitment of new volunteers.

ZAKA brings together emergency response teams, most of them Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox, each operating in a police district. The organization is officially recognized by the government for identification of victims of terrorism, road accidents and other disasters, and when necessary, gathering body parts and spilled blood for proper burial.

It also provides first aid and rescue services, and aids in the search for missing persons as well as international rescue and recovery operations. The volunteers are dedicated to ensuring that the bodies of Jewish victims are buried according to Jewish law.

After terror attacks, ZAKA volunteers also collect the bodies and body parts of non-Jews, including suicide bombers, for return to their families. The organization has some 1,500 members, many of whom are also trained medics or paramedics.

The organization preceding ZAKA was founded when a group of volunteers, under the leadership of Rabbi Elazar Gelbstein, gathered to assist in the recovery of human remains from a terrorist attack on Israeli bus line 405 in 1989. The ZAKA network was then established in the early 1990s.

Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, Rabbi Moshe Aizenbach and Tel Aviv Zaka director Rabbi Zvika Rosental founded the Jerusalem ZAKA organization in the 1990s.

The organization is most identified with Meshi-Zahav, who was raised as a member of the anti-Zionist Eda Haredit, and organized protests and sometimes violent incidents against the police and others. Through his volunteer work, Meshi-Zahav became moderate and even agreed to light an honorary beacon on Israel’s 55th anniversary of independence.

ZAKA members deal with an average of 38 deceased persons daily. But as terror attacks have waned in recent years, donations declined, and management problems resulted in deficits that nearly closed the organization. A recovery program put ZAKA back on track, but with government donations, its future will be ensured.

In 2004 and 2005, ZAKA volunteers provided assistance in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. In November 2008, ZAKA volunteers went to Mumbai, India, following terrorist attacks that included a Jewish center among its targets.

Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, a six-man ZAKA international search and rescue unit was dispatched to Haiti. Teams of ZAKA volunteers were also sent to Japan in March 2011 to assist in search-and-rescue after a devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Thursday 25 October 2012

http://www.jpost.com/Health/Article.aspx?id=289204

Five killed in fire at Masomba traditional market in C. Indonesia

A massive fire took place on Wednesday at Masomba traditional market located in Palu, the capital city of Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province, leaving five dead, local media reported.

South Palu Police chief Comr. Saimuda Ali said that the five victims were found in the scorched market.

"We haven't been able to identify the victims as their bodies were severely burned," he said

Bodies of the victims were now placed in the Central Sulawesi' s Bhayangkara Police Hospital for further identification process.

Rahman, an eyewitness, said that the fire was originated from the stalls at the market. "I saw the fire came from the stalls that engulfed the whole market quickly," he said.

The fire reportedly started at 03:30 a.m. local time, was extinguished after three hours. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. The Masomba traditional market has previously caught on fire for multiple times due to short circuits.

Thursday 25 October 2012

http://www.china.org.cn/china/Off_the_Wire/2012-10/24/content_26893890.htm

Aussies lead world in disaster response

AUSTRALIAN disaster response teams are world-class and have been leaders in managing international crises, a conference has been told.

Emergency management expert Peter Baines remembers how bodies found floating in the water or washed up on the beaches and streets of Thailand after the 2004 Boxing day tsunami were taken to a local temple.

"As I walked in, all I could see covering the entire area was the decomposing bodies of 3500 people that lay on the ground," said Mr Baines, who has spent 22 years with the NSW Police responding to terrorist acts and natural disasters.

He has also consulted for Interpol and the UN, and was deployed to Japan last year after the tsunami and to Bali following the 2002 bombings.

Mr Baines spoke about his experiences at the Sydney Safety Conference on Thursday in which he said Australia had always taken a lead in international disaster responses.

With the Thai temple turned into a mortuary, 400 international emergency workers brought 110 refrigerated shipping containers to Phi Phi Island and began the long, difficult work of identifying bodies.

In the chaos, Australians took charge, and strong disaster leadership set Australian rescue workers apart, he told the conference.

"Under immense pressure from families, the media, and embassy staff, Australian teams in Thailand held every key leadership position for six to eight months, over 36 other countries including the UK, Germany and Sweden," Mr Baines said.

"It wasn't that we were arrived quicker, we didn't have any greater skill or expertise or resources, it was what we did."

Mr Baines also praised former Queensland premier Anna Bligh for her leadership during the floods.

"(Ms Bligh) was on TV with wet hair and a raincoat on," Mr Baines said, and her leadership during the crisis showed she understood the challenges Queenslanders were facing.

Mr Baines called on insurance companies to lower premiums for organisations who trained disaster response staff, saying this would ensure nations maintained high standards of emergency management.

Thursday 25 October 2012

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/aussies-lead-world-in-disaster-response/story-fn3dxiwe-1226503127843