December 4th, 2010

The largest and deadliest fire in Israel’s history is raging out of control in the drought-ridden north. As of now, 41 people have been killed, homes have been burned, and 17,000 residents have been evacuated, leaving with only the clothes on their backs, and more are likely to follow.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated:“We are dealing with a disaster that is unprecedented and of international proportions.”

Fire-fighting teams from Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Turkey, Jordan and Britain were the first to arrive in Israel. Despite the great diplomatic tensions vis-à-vis Israel, Turkish stepped in as well.

•More than 20 firefighting aircraft from Britain, France, Romania, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Croatia, Azerbaijan and Russia joined the forces soon after to help in the effort to contain the northern blaze that claimed at least 41 lives. Aircrafts from the United States, Italy and Canada are on the way.
 

•Despite foreign efforts, however, nature had different plans. At night the fire began to spread towards Haifa’s Denia neighborhood to Ein Hod (an artist village ) and a few other settlements. Winds and the dry weather rekindled the flames until they once again threatened homes.
 

•More than 17,000 residents were evacuated by rescue forces. The fire was also spreading outside the Druze town of Isfiya.
 

Scene of the fire. Photo by Associate Press

 In the past 24 hours NATAL’s Hotline has received over 300 calls.

 Calls are coming from 4 main groups of people:

1.      Those who are very afraid for their families

2.      Those who have lost friends and family in the disaster

3.      Those who have had to leave their houses and are reliving post traumatic symptoms from the  Second Lebanon War in 2006. Children are especially afraid to leave their houses.

4.      Those who want to help out with the disaster and feel helpless.

Today a woman who lives in the north had to go a family whose father was a fire fighter and had died in the devastating fire. She had to tell them the news and desperately wanted to know what to say to them. She called NATAL’s Hotline and asked our volunteers for advice about how to break the terrible news and what to do if some family members collapse from shock.

§ NATAL’s Community Outreach Unit has spread out over northern Israel, they have been working side by side with the Prison Guard Authority in order to help with the extremely difficult and crucial task of informing the families of the prison guards who were killed about their losses.

§ The psychologists of NATAL’s Community Outreach Unit have been to Ashkelon, Carmiel, El Arabia and Sfat among other towns.

§ NATAL’s work is absolutely critical. Along with Israel’s emergency services, NATAL’s mental health professionals are providing emotional first aid to families all over northern Israel so that post trauma does not become a chronic condition for the thousands of Israelis affected by this unprecedented and terrible crisis.

§ We must work to protect the souls of those susceptible to acute post trauma, we must strengthen their spirits.

In the next weeks to follow, NATAL’s work will become vital as the professional teams such as MADA and ZAKA that are facing horrors will need resiliency workshops that will enable them to go back to work and to face life again despite what they have been through.

It is clear that as the days go on, our work will only intensify. As the fire is put out in the forest, we are must deal with the emotional scars and wounds of the people on the ground.