An emergency delegation from the IDF’s Homefront Command will be sent to Miami to help the rescue effort from the Champlain Towers building in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Saturday night.
In coordination with the governor’s office in Florida and the Foreign Ministry, Gantz decided to send a team of engineering and rescue specialists.
“We will make every effort to help save human lives, and to offer our support to the Jewish community and to our American friends,” Gantz said.
United Hatzalah of Israel working in conjunction with El Al Airlines has also begun preparations to send a team from its Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit to provide psychological support and stabilization to the families and neighbors of those injured, killed, or affected by the tragedy that occurred in Surfside, Florida. The team’s mission will be to assist the community in Surfside and those affected by the collapse of a residential condo that has claimed the life of at least one person and left nearly 100 missing.
The team of psychological first aid experts will be composed of top members of the organization’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit (PCRU) and will assist the families of those who were killed, injured, and missing, in the collapse. They will also make themselves available to members of the Miami community by providing psychological and emotional stabilization and treatment to those who need it in the wake of the incident.
The team will be utilizing techniques and tools developed in Israel which have proven to be highly successful in assisting those who have suffered from similar incidents. The United Hatzalah delegation is being flown to Miami by EL AL Israel Airlines who have graciously partnered in this effort. They are scheduled to arrive in Surfside on Sunday, June 27th.
The unit will be led by Dov Maisel, the Vice President of Operations for United Hatzalah, and a paramedic, who has led disaster response missions to Nepal, Haiti, and Japan. Maisel will partner with Einat Kaufman, who serves as the Clinical Operations Director of the PCRU. Kauffman, in addition to being a trained EMT, is one of the top Cognitive Psychotherapists in Israel, and an expert in trauma, grief, and bereavement especially when concerned with mass casualty incidents. She as well as other members of the unit have taken part in several missions as psychological first aid responders, including the missions from United Hatzalah following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and the Tree Of Life mass shooting that took place in Pittsburgh.
Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai has arrived on Sunday in Miami to provide support and assistance to the Jewish community affected by the disaster.
נחתתי הבוקר במיאמי,יחד עם משלחת פיקוד העורף שהגיעו לסייע לכוחות החילוץ האמריקאים בזירת האסון בסורפסייד.גאה לעמוד כאן כנציג ממשלת ישראל, לצד משלחת מובחרת זו ולעזרת ידידינו בארה"ב בימים קשים אלה.נפעל יחד להושיט עזרה בשטח,אל מול הקהילה וגורמי הממשל בפלורידה.#SurfsideBuildingCollapse pic.twitter.com/uHelrsjp1x
— נחמן שי- Nachman Shai (@DrNachmanShai) June 27, 2021
Kol Hakavod to the Israeli team who are endangering their lives to work in the HOT miami weather ( I know I live there) and to tirelessly have one goal in mind, which is to assist fellow yidden with the proper dignity in such cases and to non yidden as well to bring closure to the families
To the owners of ELAL who paid for this trip a HUGE washer coach
To see the delegation from the IDF and Hatzlacha arriving in Miami to help in such horrific circumstances fills me with such pride – Eretz Yisrael’s response on these occasions is such a kiddush hashem and may their sacrifice be the catalyst for finding more survivors and miracles -Also from the Chabad response, Kol hakavod to Rabbi and Rebbetzin Lipsker and all the Chabad shluchim in their responses also – The Rebbe’s messages of light and love and added mitzvot which Rabbi Lipsker has stated in the various broadcasts have given such comfort and may we see only miracles in… Read more »