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Nepal Thanks Israel for Humanitarian Aid
By Anav Silverman
Tazpit News Agency
The Foreign Minister of Nepal, Mahendra Bahadur Pandey thanked Israeli Foreign Minister
Avigdor Liberman today for the humanitarian aid that Israel has sent in the wake of the
country's devastating earthquake. Pandey noted that the Nepalese people deeply appreciate
the aid being sent from Israel.
Liberman spoke with Pandey on Tuesday morning,
April 28 and thanked Nepalese authorities for their
assistance in sending out helicopters to evacuate
stranded Israelis in more remote areas of Nepal.
Nepal agreed to Israel's request to use helicopters
chartered in India and China to rescue those
stranded Israelis.
The massive earthquake that hit Nepal on Saturday
has killed at least 4,000 people and left nearly 8,000
people injured. According to the United Nations, eight
million people have been affected, more than a
quarter of the south Asian country's population. The
7.8-magnituted quake has wreaked devastation
across the country, with leaving countless inhabitants
without electricity, water, and food.
Israel sent its first rescue plane from Home Front
Command on Sunday, April 26 and later on, three more air force planes full of emergency
aid. A delegation of Israeli doctors and paramedics flew out on a Magen David Adom plane
on Sunday as well. The planes have also brought back groups of Israelis back home.
On Monday, April 27, two El Al planes flew out carrying out more than 200 doctors,
sanitation engineers, machinery technicians, as well as medical equipment including oxygen
tanks, medical ventilators, X-ray machines, medicines and engineering equipment.
In the coming two weeks, IDF search and rescue teams will set up near the capital,
Kathmandu in order to find survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings. The Israeli teams
will also set up a field hospital for the local population to provide much needed medical
services. The field hospital will have 80 hospital beds, two operating rooms, four intensivecare rooms and specialists in neonatal and adult care, with dozens of IDF physicians from
the regular army and reserves at hand.
In light of the country's most deadly earthquake in 81 years, the Nepal government has
urged for overseas aid. "We urge foreign countries to give us special materials and medical
teams. We are really desperate for more foreign expertise to pull through this crisis," said
Chief Secretary Leela Mani Paudel.
In addition to Israel, other countries
coming to Nepal's aid include India,
China, Japan, Bhutan, Pakistan,
Malaysia, Sri Lanka, United
Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, US,
Canada, Australia, and others.
Other Israeli disaster response
organizations providing their
expertise in Nepal include ZAKA and
IsraAID.
Israel is also making plans for longterm assistance to Nepal. The head
of Israel's Agency for International
Development Cooperation (MASHAV), Ambassador Gil Haskel held a meeting on Monday to
discuss the second stage of Israeli aid to Nepal with a concentration on long-term assistance
to the country.
Photos: Magen David Adom spokesperson / MDA delegation providing medical care to locals in
Kathmandu this week following the massive earthquake that hit Nepal during the weekend.