Where is the Jewish aid to Nepal going?
NEW YORK (JTA) – Almost as soon as news of Nepal’s devastating earthquake reached the wider world, Jewish aid groups began mobilizing humanitarian efforts to help the victims.
In Israel, that meant dispatching first responders to Nepal; in America, it mostly meant raising and allocating money.
How is the Jewish aid being deployed in Nepal?
Israel
The biggest Jewish on-the-ground response has come from the Jewish state, which currently has more than 260 Israeli soldiers, doctors and rescue experts working in the disaster zone — the largest of all the international aid teams on the ground, according to the Israeli Consulate in New York. The 170-person Israeli Defense Forces delegation has been helping with search-and-rescue operations and setting up field hospitals consisting of two operating rooms, four intensive-care rooms, 80 beds and neonatal care.
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American Jewish World Service (AJWS)
AJWS works in six countries in Asia, but not Nepal. Following this week’s earthquake, however, the organization sprung into action, raising $800,000 for Nepal disaster relief in just five days and beginning to distribute the funds to local recipient organizations. AJWS’s focus is on rural communities, minorities, women and gays.
To that end, the first round of AJWS grants to Nepal are going to a group providing medical support and earthquake relief to HIV-positive LGBT people; an organization that provides free and low-cost medical care to Nepal’s most destitute; a group that focuses on health care, education and employment for poor communities in remote mountain villages; and a women’s rights organization providing pregnant mothers with shelter and other basic necessities. AJWS is also supporting International Medical Corps’ work providing earthquake survivors with first aid and psychosocial support.
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