Among Israel's emergency relief missions:
The most recent major disaster relief mission was dispatched to Haiti,
after the desvastating earthquake in January 2010. An IDF search and rescue team
and field hospital were supplemented by relief teams from Israeli
NGOs, including ZAKA, IsraAid, F.I.R.S.T and Latet.
The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 was one of the worst natural
disasters in history. Israel
sent 60 tons of aid to Indonesia, which was well-received by a country with
the largest Muslim population in the world, and no ties with Israel. The Israeli
government also sent 82 tons of relief supplies, including medicine, water,
food, blankets, tents, nylon sheeting and electric generators to Sri
Lanka. Magen David Adom, Israel's division of the International Red Cross,
dispatched additional urgent medical supplies to hospitals in Sri Lanka's
capital Colombo.
Israeli organizations were also involved in providing aid to Pakistan after
the November 2005 earthquake in Kashmir. An Israeli NGO, Israeli Flying Aid
(IFA) sent a mission to the region and provided thousands of families basic dry
food products, blankets, coats, socks, personal clay heating kits and iron
sheets to shield temporary shelters from heavy snow.
Major relief efforts in the past include:
Israeli humanitarian aid organizations
IsraAID (The Israel Forum for International
Humanitarian Aid), founded in Israel in 2001, is an umbrella organization of
more than 35 Israeli and Jewish non-governmental organizations and other
individuals active in development and relief work around the world and concerned
about global issues. IsraAID and its members have provided relief assistance to
more than 20 countries including Rwanda, India, Mexico, Congo, Chad, Sudan
(Darfur) and Malawi.
The Fast Israeli Rescue and Search Team (FIRST) is an
Israeli NGO that sends search and rescue teams to disaster zones around the
world. FIRST has also provided relief assistance in Peru, Turkey, India, Mexico,
El Salvador, Greece, Armenia and New Guinea, among others
Israeli Flying Aid (IFA), an Israeli NGO,
provides life saving aid to people affected by natural and man made disasters
worldwide.
Save a
Child's Heart (SACH) is an organization that provides urgent
pediatric heart surgery and follow-up care for children from developing
countries. SACH was founded in 1995 and has since repaired the hearts of more
than 2,100 children from a wide variety of countries including China, Congo,
Ecuador, Angola,
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda,
Iraq,
Jordan, Russia, Sri Lanka and Ukraine as well as to children in areas controlled
by the Palestinian Authority.
LATET (Hebrew for "to give") - Israeli Humanitarian
Aid is an NGO established in 1996 and devoted to assisting populations in need
in Israel and around the world on a universal and equal basis.