Israeli Earthquake Aid to Venezuela

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-901836

Israel agrees to extend earthquake aid in Venezuela after rare call between president, FM Sa'ar

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez requested an extension on Israeli aid in Venezuela ahead of the scheduled July 12 departure date as Israeli experts design a post-earthquake reconstruction plan.

Israel's Foreign Ministry and aid delegation to Venezuela meets with interim president Delcy Rodriguez in Caracas, Venezuela

The Israeli aid delegation’s earthquake relief work in Venezuela will continue for an additional two weeks after interim president Delcy Rodriguez met with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to request the extension, the Foreign Ministry and the IDF announced on Wednesday. 

The decision was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

With a small delegation of only 30 people, Israeli presence in Venezuela has been focused on designing a national reconstruction plan, which Rodriguez hopes to begin implementing.

As part of the plan, the IDF began mapping and categorizing approximately 1,300 buildings on Monday, classifying them as either to be demolished or potentially salvageable despite damage.

Additionally, IDF Brig.-Gen. Elad Edri said that the IDF engineers have provided guidance to Venezuela on handling debris from damaged buildings.

'Out of the box thinking' as earthquake death toll rises

The multi-year plan is a major accomplishment of the Israeli delegation, and Venezuela approved it within days, rather than the weeks or months it would normally take to develop.

Edri said the severity of the disaster warranted rapid, out-of-the-box thinking.

Following the June 24 earthquake, the IDF delegation flew out of Israel on June 30 and landed in Venezuela on July 1 after multiple complex stopovers, Edri said.

He explained that, given the current chaos, other delegations who wanted to assist with the disaster have needed four to five days of travel and waiting to reach disaster-stricken sites.

Even the IDF could not fly directly into Caracas; they flew into Valencia instead and then traveled domestically to Caracas.

On Sunday, the Venezuelan Information Ministry announced that the death toll had risen to 3,342.

The new tally also puts the number of injured at 16,470, while the number of homeless has risen to 17,345. Nearly 200 buildings are confirmed to have collapsed, according to state officials.

Some of the homeless are living in official shelters and others in tent encampments. An unofficial but widely used tally of the missing stands at around 41,000.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-901836

https://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-hails-israeli-aid-team-for-rebuilding-relations-with-venezuela-after-17-years-of-severed-ties/

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday hailed the Israeli delegation providing aid following the major earthquake in Venezuela, saying it was not only helping the country recover from last month’s devastating earthquakes, but also “rebuilding relations” with Caracas nearly two decades after it severed ties with Israel.

“You are rebuilding ruins, and you are also rebuilding relations. You are showing the people of Venezuela, as well as the Venezuelan government, the true face of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said in a video message to the delegation’s head and chief of staff of the Home Front Command, Elad Edri, and Israel’s ambassador-designate to Mexico, Yoed Magen, who is leading the civilian component of the delegation.

The delegation has been operating in several earthquake-hit areas for the past 10 days at the request of the Venezuelan government, assessing and classifying damaged buildings and assisting with reconstruction efforts following the earthquakes that according to the latest tally killed at least 3,889.

Nearly 17,000 people were also injured in the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes on June 24, while almost 18,000 more lost their homes.

Following talks with Venezuela’s infrastructure minister, the Israeli team prepared a national reconstruction plan that was approved by Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, according to Israel.

“What you are doing now is coming to a country that severed relations nearly 20 years ago, and you are proving how beneficial it is to have ties with Israel,” Netanyahu said.

IDF Home Front Command engineering experts are seen in Venezuela

Venezuela broke off diplomatic ties with Israel over the 2008-2009 war in Gaza, and under then-leader Hugo Chavez, it was one of the world’s most vocal critics of Israel during the war in Gaza that was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror invasion.

However, Israel has expressed hope for better ties with Caracas since the US captured Venezuela’s then-president Nicolas Maduro in January and supported Rodriguez taking power.

“We are very proud to represent the country here… We are operating here day and night together with the local government and the Venezuelan government’s Infrastructure Ministry. We have also connected here with the Jewish community,” Edri said in the video, adding that “both official representatives and the Venezuelan people have been very warm toward the delegation.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-hails-israeli-aid-team-for-rebuilding-relations-with-venezuela-after-17-years-of-severed-ties/

The 'angel' in uniform: the Israeli officer giving Venezuelan earthquake survivors hope

Home Front Command officer Avi Cohen is helping earthquake-hit Venezuelans determine whether they can return home, reassuring residents that damaged buildings are safe while warning that similar destruction could occur in Israel

In the Home Front Command aid delegation operating in the earthquake-hit area of Venezuela, one reserve officer has stood out as an angel of hope for many residents. He is Avi Cohen (39), a structural engineer from Giv'at Shmuel who has served for years in the search and rescue unit as a senior academic professional officer, the rank equivalent to a lieutenant.

These days, Cohen is the person telling families whose homes were damaged by the quake whether their buildings are safe to live in or whether, unfortunately, the structures are dangerous and must be demolished.

“People say, ‘Thank God,’ ‘Thank you for coming.’ Some of them have been sleeping in tents until now because they were afraid to return home,” he said.

Cohen, who was born in Mexico and immigrated to Israel 15 years ago, speaks Spanish as his mother tongue, which has proved to be a significant advantage during the mission. In civilian life, he is a construction engineer specializing in the design of earthquake-resistant buildings, including schools and hospitals. During his mandatory military service, he served as a protection engineer in the Home Front Command’s research and development unit.

“I’m a reservist,” he told ynet. “When I received the call-up, I immediately said ‘yes,’ and only afterward went to ask my wife. This is a great opportunity both to help and to learn how an event like this is managed in reality.”

According to Cohen, the scale of the destruction is difficult to comprehend.

“Every morning we drive from Caracas to the affected areas, and along the way we see destroyed homes on both sides of the road or buildings that are about to collapse. We are only in one city and the destruction is enormous. We also talk among ourselves and understand that if a powerful earthquake hits Israel, we could see scenes like this there too. We are here also to learn and prepare.”

The Israeli delegation is not treating buildings that have already collapsed, but rather those that were damaged and whose safety remains unclear.

“We are called to buildings with damage. The teams enter, assess the condition of the structure, look for signs of potential future collapse and work according to the Home Front Command’s methodology. At the end, we determine whether the building is safe or whether it must be evacuated.”

Cohen said the most moving moments are when they can reassure residents.

“People are afraid to return home. We explain to them that there are cracks, but the structure is intact and there is no danger. It is a great feeling of satisfaction.”

On the other hand, there are also difficult moments.

“Sometimes we have to stand in front of a family and tell them: ‘You cannot continue living here.’ It is news that breaks their hearts.”

Cohen said he was pleasantly surprised by the quality of local construction.

“There is a different construction method here than in Israel. There are many concrete block walls, but in many cases the structure itself remains intact. We were impressed that there are more safe buildings than we expected.”

In recent days, the delegation inspected eight massive residential buildings, each about 15 stories high, housing between 600 and 1,200 families.

“We found that all eight buildings were sound. That same day, we were able to tell thousands of people that they could return home. These are moments you do not forget.”

He said the delegation members have received an especially warm welcome.

“From the moment we landed, we were welcomed with open arms. Everywhere people tell us: ‘You’re from Israel? Thank you for coming.’ They greatly appreciate the fact that people traveled from far away to help them. We hear only positive things. We have good security, but the feeling is that people here are simply happy that we are with them.”

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ry0ap0pqzx