Dear Friend,
On August 10th, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake tore through western Colombia. By Friday, 80 of our soldiers were on the ground in Cali.
The delegation, "Alliance of Brothers," is led by the IDF's Home Front Command with the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Israel's Embassy in Colombia prepared the diplomatic groundwork so our rescue team could get straight to work the moment they landed.
A mission like this one is not new for IDF soldiers. This is the IDF's 37th humanitarian mission since 1953, demonstrating our deeply engrained values to show up when needed to help save lives.
Alongside local authorities and volunteers, this courageous group of soldiers is searching two major collapse sites for survivors. At Cali's damaged university hospital, Home Front Command engineers are guiding a careful, complex effort to clear rubble, rescue anyone still trapped, and reopen the wing for patients. Leveraging their unmatched expertise, technology, drive, they are also mapping damaged buildings in the surrounding area and building a data system to help Colombian authorities know exactly where to focus their efforts.
And their efforts are already making a difference. Miraculously, the Israeli delegation rescued a 3-year-old girl after she had been trapped beneath the rubble for 100 hours. |
