Search and Rescue personnel work at a partial collapse building in Surfside, Miami Beach, on June 24, 2021. (CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP)
Jewish groups in the US and an Israeli rescue organization are mobilizing to aid victims of a condominium tower collapse near Miami, with several members of the Jewish community missing amid fading hopes of finding them alive.
At least one person was killed and 99 more were still missing as the sun went down on the heavily Jewish suburb of Surfside Thursday, nearly a full day after much of the 12-story building suddenly collapsed at around 1:30 a.m.
First responders have pulled 35 people from the rubble and treated 10 people on the scene with at least two transported to a nearby hospital for care, officials said in a press briefing.
United Hatzalah of Israel Sending Delegation to Provide Psychological First Aid and Support to Surfside Community Following Condo Collapse prnewswire.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from prnewswire.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
On a Tuesday night in May, just five days after the Meron crowd-crush tragedy that killed 45, United Hatzalah held a mass-casualty incident (MCI) training drill in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona. The drill simulated a motor vehicle accident involving two minibuses that left patients of various ages with different injuries. Participating in the drill with United Hatzalah was the Israel Defense Forces; the Upper Galilee and Mt. Hermon search and rescue units; United Hatzalah’s psychotrauma team, run by Dr. Moshe Farchi of Tel-Hai College; the fire department; and the police department.
The drill simulated more than 30 casualties with various injuries. The use of makeup and special effects helped create a realistic scenario in which emergency medical service personnel from all the different organizations could identify and treat the injured.
Eli and Gitty in Tel Aviv in 2018.
Eli Beer, the powerhouse behind United Hatzalah of Israel, who has grown an organization of more than 6,000 volunteers with a 90-second response time, who crisscrosses the globe (yes, even during the pandemic) fundraising and sharing his innovative emergency response model, who himself survived a life-threatening battled with Covid-19, and who is an icon of purposeful unity between Jews and Arabs, Jews and Christians, and Jews and each other, has an addiction. âOnce you save one life,â he has said, âyou want to save more.â
Millions of lives have been saved by United Hatzalah (UH), the seed for which was planted in Eliâs mind when he became an EMT at just 15 years old: Get help to people faster, and youâll save more lives.