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Jewish Journal

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April 18, 2016

PASSOVER; Adding Your Own Family’s Stories to the Holiday

Leave a Comment / Election 2016, United States /

This Passover, Jewish families will gather to recall the story of our ancestors’ departure from Egypt.

How about — since the family is together anyway—taking this rare opportunity to have family elders recount their own stories?

Below is an article I wrote a few years ago, offering suggestions for recording family stories.  You can easily use the suggestions for a family gathering during Passover.

Everyone has a story. But not many people get a chance to tell that story. 

Unfortunately, the majority of our older relatives take their stories with them when they die.

This is a huge loss — both for the person who didn’t get to review their life, find meaning in their  stories and memories… and for their descendants who miss out on knowing the details of their heritage and ancestors.

One of my friends’ daughters recently lamented this fact: “I wish I knew how my grandparents ended up in Cleveland, or how they met. Or what their parents did for a living. We don’t know anything about their lives or their past. It’s really frustrating and sad.”

The truth is, we really do know more about ourselves when we understand our ancestors and our heritage.

But we have so many logical reasons that these stories aren’t heard or preserved.

“We kept meaning to ask Bubbe about her childhood in Europe. But both of us are so pressed for time with work, the kids, soccer games and temple committees that we just never got around to it.”

“I bought my father a very simple tape recorder so he could record his memories and stories. Then we bought him a family history book to fill in. But he wouldn’t do either one, and now his memories are fading.”

Are you fortunate enough to still have a chance to save your parents’ or grandparents’ stories?

Yes, we really are busy. Maybe our family elders don’t like talking about themselves.

Maybe they repeat the same story over and over again and it’s grown old. Possibly they’re worried that you will be bored because they know they’ve told the same story over and over again.

But those same old stories are probably the ones their great-great-grandkids will wish
they knew.

How to Get Started

1. Recognize your elder’s legacy as precious.
Imagine 20 years from now that your own grandchildren are asking you questions that you can’t answer.

2. Extend an invitation.
It might feel awkward, but it’s not that difficult to ask, “Would you be willing to sit down and talk about your life? We want to record your stories and memories.”

3. Be curious.
I can assure you there are things you don’t know about your older relatives’ lives and experiences.

4. Make a commitment.
This is like anything else that needs to get done. It has to be scheduled. Whether it’s for two hours or a whole day, commit to doing this. Why? Because they will feel honored and appreciated. (And because you will regret it if you don’t.) Turn off your cell phone during this time, and make sure there will be no distractions.

5. Create a list of questions.
Involve your children, siblings and other family members or friends. What do they want to know about the family’s history and about the “star” of the interview?

Ask questions that start with: who, what, where, when and why.

Brainstorm without censoring, unless you truly know that a topic is too upsetting to ask about.

By the way, as an oral historian, I have found that many Holocaust survivors don’t talk about their experiences with their family because they don’t want to upset their children. And their children? They don’t ask questions — even though they are interested — because they
don’t want to upset their parents.

In brainstorming and coming up with questions, first think in terms of different generations:

– Ancestors
– Grandparents
– Parents
– Self
– Children
– Grandchildren

Then think in terms of the different phases of someone’s life:
– Birth
– Childhood
– School years, adolescence
– Young adulthood
– Adulthood
– Senior years.

Then consider different aspects of most people’s lives:
– Home
– Neighborhood
– Family relationships/personalities
– Traditions/religious life
– Education
– Lifestyle/trends
– Work
– The times/eras,
– Recreation/fun
– Values.

6. Practice patience during the interview.

Let them wander wherever their memory takes them. Some great stories emerge when this happens. Don’t interrupt.

7. Be quiet.

This is not a “conversation” where you do a lot of talking, judging or expressing your own point of view. This is a time to listen. Yes, you will ask questions, but if you ask them in the open-ended way and are really willing to listen, the storyteller will be more likely to talk … and talk.

8. Acknowledge their life and experiences.

This will happen just by you showing your sincere interest.

9. Be prepared for emotions.

Most older people that I interview cry when they talk about their deceased parents, especially their mother. Men are usually surprised that they cry, but as a psychotherapist, I’m not. Tears are OK. Don’t rush in to stop the crying. You might hold their hand, or just say, “It’s OK.” The chance to reminisce is healing, and you will be allowing this process by your caring and listening.

10. Savor the time.

If you’ve committed to two hours, then stick to that and don’t rush the time. Whether an older relative is 55 or 105, we never know how much time we have left with our loved ones. Be grateful that you’ve had the chance to share this experience with them.

Happy Passover!

PASSOVER; Adding Your Own Family’s Stories to the Holiday Read More »

Doris Roberts, ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ star, dies at 90

Leave a Comment / Entertainment, Hollywood /

Doris Roberts, who won four Emmy Awards as the meddling mother Marie Barone on the popular sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” has died.

Roberts, who was of Russian Jewish descent, died overnight Monday in her sleep, her spokeswoman told The Associated Press. The cause of death was not immediately known. She was 90.

Roberts “will be remembered for lighting up every room she walked into with an unparalleled combination of energy, humor, warmth and even a little bit of grit,” CBS, which broadcast “Raymond” from 1996 to 2005, said in a statement.

She won the Emmys and for best supporting actress and was nominated seven times portraying Marie, matriarch of a dysfunctional Italian family. Roberts won another Emmy for a guest appearance on “St. Elsewhere” playing a homeless woman.

In 2003, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Roberts had a recurring role on the television detective drama “Remington Steele” and also appeared in several Broadway shows beginning in the 1950s.

A St. Louis native who grew up in New York, Roberts was raised by her mother, Ann Meltzer, with the help of her family, after Meltzer was deserted by her husband. Roberts took the last name of her stepfather, Chester Roberts.

Doris Roberts, ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ star, dies at 90 Read More »

Biden thanks J Street for Iran deal campaign

Leave a Comment / Iran Deal, United States /

Vice President Joe Biden thanked J Street for its lobbying and successful campaign in support of the Iran nuclear deal last summer as he addressed the annual J Street gala in Washington, D.C., on Monday.

“You deserve great credit for the [Iran deal],” Biden said. “Your organization played a critical role in mustering the support at home to get that deal through the United States Congress. You all stood up and your voices were heard throughout the community and beyond. you made sure that the voices of those who supported Israel and supported the deal were heard. Jewish Americans across this country as well as many Israel security experts, including former top military intelligence officials in Israel, they all agreed with you.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for your effort. You have made the world a little bit safer,” the vice president said to loud applause. “And it payed off. The deal is working exactly as it should. Iran is keeping up their end of the bargain as it relates to the nuclear deal… Iran is further away from a nuclear weapon today than it was a year ago, and that’s a huge, huge step towards our security and the security of the entire region.”

According to Biden, Iran’s recent ballistic missiles activities have damaged Iran’s reputation in the world that has resulted in making the sanctions relief on trade and financial deals more complicated.

Biden also criticized Israel’s current settlement policy as he urged the Israelis and Palestinians to take “meaningful steps to reduce tension” in the Middle East region.

“I am going to say things that are very blunt,” Biden started off by saying. “No one has ever doubted I mean what I say. The problem is sometimes I say all that I mean, and I may tonight.”

“I have opposed settlements for more than three decades because I believe it is counterproductive for Israel’s security.” Biden told the pro-peace crowd. “The actions that Israel’s government has taken over the past several years – the steady and systematic expansion of settlements, the legalization of outposts, land seizures – they are moving us, and more importantly, they are moving Israel in the wrong direction. They are moving us toward a one-state reality, and that reality is dangerous.”

The vice president recalled getting into a shouting match with former Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1982 over the issue of settlements. He said the NY Times called the exchange during a closed session with 75 senators “the bitterest exchange of a highly-emotional confrontation.”

“The only way to guarantee Israel future security and its continued identity as a Jewish and democratic state; It’s the only way to ensure the dignity of the Palestinian people and provide for self determination they deserve – a two-state solution,” he said. “There is no other alternative.” Biden said that after long meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian leadership during his recent visit to Israel and Ramallah, he went away feeling discouraged about the prospects of peace in the immediate future. “There is, at the moment, no political will that I observed among Israelis and Palestinians to move forward with serious negotiations. Both sides have to take responsibility for counterproductive steps that undermine confidence in the negotiations.”

Biden also called on the Palestinian Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas to condemn terror attacks when it occurs, to stop the incitement, and refrain from taking unilateral steps at international bodies.

Secretary of State John Kerry also address the gala. “We can’t just keep condemning the other side and not try to change lives and change the capacity to try and change choices,” Kerry said. “I can tell you that for these next nine months, we will not stop working to find a way to advance a two-state solution. We will continue to try to advance a two-state solution, the only solution because anything else will not be Jewish, and it will not be democratic.”

Biden thanks J Street for Iran deal campaign Read More »

Spiritual, but not religious, but not woo-woo

Leave a Comment / Marty Kaplan, Opinion /

Years ago, a few days before Passover and a few days after we moved into the house where our children would grow up, I ran into one of my new neighbors, Mr. M—-. We’d met on moving day, but I’d been too crazed dealing with boxes to more than shake his hand, so I was glad for this chance to be more neighborly.  From his black hat, I assumed he was Orthodox. I greeted him by saying, “A zissen Pesach, Mr. M—-,” the traditional Yiddish wish for a sweet Passover. 

He looked at me as if I had three heads, or had spoken in Martian. Maybe he didn’t recognize me? I re-introduced myself, and said again, heartily, “A zissen Pesach.”

After a long stare, and stonily looking me up and down – I was in shorts and a tee shirt – he asked, incredulous, “You’re Jewish?”

I was too dim to think this was anything beyond a comical misunderstanding. “Of course I’m Jewish – that’s why I wished you a zissen Pesach!” I said jollily, sure this would clear everything up. 

His face did not mirror my smile. He wagged his index finger side to side like a metronome, as if instructing or reproaching a simple or wicked child.  “No,” he corrected me. “A koshereh Pesach.”

A Pesach that strictly observed the additional dietary rules for the eight days ahead. A Pesach with two extra sets of crockery and two extra sets of cutlery reserved exclusively for this holiday. A Pesach it was obvious to him that I — the kind of Jew who wasn’t really Jewish —would not be having. 

It is not uncommon for some Orthodox Jews to maintain that Reform Jews like me are as Jewish as gentiles. Drawing and enforcing boundaries is something that the world’s religions excel at.  Religious rules create identity and loyalty. Instead of the secular agony of figuring out how to live and what to do, religion offers the supreme serenity of obedience: submission to scriptural, priestly and divine authority.  This can build remarkably cohesive communities. It can also – ironically, in light of religion’s avowed spiritual aspirations – be soul-crushing.

I grew up as an Orthodox Jew, but as an adult I found the Reform Movement a more welcoming place to wrestle with meaning and purpose. If I hesitate today to call myself religious, it’s not because I don’t identify as a Jew; it’s because “religious” can imply, and to more than just me, dogmatic authoritarianism. 

My neighbor Mr. M—- believes that observing halacha – the body of law in the Torah and Talmud – is essential to his Jewishness.  Unlike him, but like “>Seven percent of all Americans say they’re S.B.N.R. – a bigger group than Jews, atheists, Muslims or Episcopalians. Though more than one-fifth of Americans say they’re not affiliated with any religion, more than a third call themselves spiritual.  At the same time the share of Americans who say religion is important to them has been going down, the share of people who feel a deep sense of wonder about the universe at least once a week has been “>collective nature of our celebration – our communal eating, drinking, singing and storytelling – will be psychically more powerful than any of the self-conscious symbolism of the seder. When we sing “Eliahu hanavi” about Elijah’s return, I will feel its mournful yearning across the millennia in my bones. When we recite, “This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt,” my spirit will thrum – not because there’s archaeological evidence that this sentence is true (there isn’t), but because this is the sentence about the bread of affliction that my ancestors have assembled annually to say, together and aloud, since Deuteronomy was composed 28 centuries ago. 

Sartre said, “Hell is other people.” He must never have been to a seder. Sometimes, other people are paradise.

Marty Kaplan is the Norman Lear professor of entertainment, media and society at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Reach him at martyk@jewishjournal.com.

Spiritual, but not religious, but not woo-woo Read More »

Soldier who killed subdued Palestinian charged with manslaughter

Leave a Comment / Israel /

The Israeli soldier who was captured on video shooting an already downed Palestinian assailant in the head was charged Monday with manslaughter.

The charge in Jaffa Military Court marked the first time in over 10 years that an Israeli soldier has been charged with manslaughter for a killing that took place during field operations, according to Haaretz.

Also on Monday, a gag order was lifted on identifying the soldier. He was named as Elor Azaria, 19, of Ramle. Azaria is a member of the Kfir Brigade, an Israel Defense Forces infantry division whose specialties are counter terrorism and urban warfare.

Azaria last month shot Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in Hebron, a West Bank city that has been a focal point of a seven-month wave of Palestinian violence against Israelis. He arrived on the scene after al-Sharif and an accomplice had stabbed Israeli soldiers and the accomplice had been killed.

The soldier has said that when he shot al-Sharif, who was supine and unarmed, he feared the Palestinian might be about to detonate an explosive.

Last week, the military prosecutor said a video of the incident shows that Azaria “was not as moved and agitated as he claimed.” The prosecutor also confirmed that the autopsy showed that the soldier’s shot to the head was what killed the assailant.

Meanwhile, a rally scheduled for Tuesday in Tel Aviv in support of Azaria will go forward without its headliners.

On Monday, the popular singer Eyal Golan said he would not participate, a day after saying he would sing at the rally to support the soldier and his family.

“I decided yesterday to go and support the soldier and embrace his family. I never thought to go against the IDF chief of staff, whom I greatly admire. I never wanted to go against the IDF, which is the people’s army,” Golan said in a statement.

“To my regret, a part of the public took this to a place of values ​​and democracy, while all I wanted was to do was sing and embrace, in the name of art and myself as a singer, as a person. Unfortunately, I see that there are those who take my desire into the political realm, as though I am declaring war against the army.”

He called on the soldier and his family to “stay strong.”

Singer David D’Or also canceled his participation, citing the politicization of the event and a conflicting engagement.

The rapper Subliminal on Monday said he would participate in the rally.

Soldier who killed subdued Palestinian charged with manslaughter Read More »

Netanyahu vows to keep Golan Heights forever

Leave a Comment / Israel /

Israel will never give up the Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday, a day after the Israeli leader said he delivered the same message to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The meeting was held for the first time on the land captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War.

“I chose to hold this festive Cabinet meeting on the Golan Heights in order to deliver a clear message: The Golan Heights will forever remain in Israel’s hands. Israel will never come down from the Golan Heights,” Netanyahu said.

Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981. The international community has never recognized the annexation.

Syrian President Bashar Assad reportedly has said that one principle upon which peace talks to end his country’s years-long civil war must be based is that the entire Golan Heights be considered Syrian and the part annexed by Israel be considered occupied territory.

Netanyahu told the government ministers at the Cabinet meeting that in speaking with Kerry the previous evening, he told the secretary of state that Israel “will not oppose a diplomatic settlement in Syria on condition that it not come at the expense of the security of the State of Israel,” specifically that Iran, Hezbollah and the Islamic State will be removed from Syrian soil.

He added that he also told Kerry that Israel will not relinquish the Golan Heights.

Netanyahu called the Golan “an integral part of the State of Israel in the new era.”

He later said: “The time has come for the international community to recognize reality, especially two basic facts. One, whatever is beyond the border, the boundary itself will not change. Two, after 50 years, the time has come for the international community to finally recognize that the Golan Heights will remain under Israel’s sovereignty permanently.”

Netanyahu vows to keep Golan Heights forever Read More »

Gaza terror tunnel into Israel discovered

Leave a Comment / Israel /

A Hamas-built tunnel from Gaza into Israel aimed at executing terror attacks has been discovered, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday.

The tunnel is the first to be found since Operation Protective Edge, the summer 2014 Gaza War, according to the IDF, which worked in conjunction with the Shin Bet security service in discovering the tunnel. The IDF said it has destroyed the tunnel openings on both the Israeli and Gazan sides.

In a statement, the IDF said the tunnel was built by the terrorist organization Hamas “in order to infiltrate Israel and execute terror attacks against the people of the southern communities.” In a statement Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is “investing considerable capital” in countering the tunnels, and that the effort “will not end overnight.”

“Israel will respond strongly to any attempt to attack its soldiers and civilians,” Netyanyahu said. “I am certain that Hamas understands this very well.”

But Hamas vowed that the destruction of this tunnel did not signal an end to conflict, according to the Times of Israel.

“What the enemy has discovered is only a drop in the sea from what the resistance has prepared to defend its people, to liberate the holy places, its prisoners and land,” Hamas’s military wing said in a statement Monday.

The 2014 war, which saw more than 2,100 Palestinians and some 70 Israelis die, was fought largely over the tunnels. Following several attempted infiltrations into Israel, the IDF invaded Gaza hoping to root out the tunnel network, resulting in brutal battles across the coastal territory. Israel withdrew after destroying or otherwise eliminating the threat of some three dozen tunnels.

The tunnel discovered Monday began in a southern Gaza residential neighborhood, according to Haaretz. On the Israel side it is located between the border fence and Israeli military bases, and was about 100 feet below ground.

It is not known when the tunnel was constructed and how many branches it has.

Gaza terror tunnel into Israel discovered Read More »

How Sanders is driving up Jewish support for Hillary

Leave a Comment / Election 2016, United States /

Bernie Sanders wants to score an upset in New York. But his recent comments on Israel may have just done the opposite – drive up Jewish support for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday.

On Thursday, during the debate aired on CNN and NY1, Sanders “>interview and hiring of Simone Zimmerman,  a former J Street student activist and an avowed critic of Israel, as his Jewish Outreach Director. Sanders “>event hosted by Greenfield.

While Clinton is not well-liked in the Orthodox Jewish community, an electorate that voted for John McCain and Mitt Romney by almost 80 percent, the comments made by Sanders has motivated the bulk who are registered as Democrats to cast their first-ever vote for Hillary Clinton, according to a dozen Jewish voters interviewed for this story.

“Many Orthodox Jewish Democrats who engaged me, were previously indifferent or even negative towards Hillary Clinton,” Chaskel Bennett, a local community leader and board member of Agudath Israel of America, told Jewish Insider on Saturday. “People I spoke with now feel it imperative‎ to go out and vote against Bernie Sanders.”

“Several callers on my radio show told me they were abandoning Bernie for Hillary because of his negative comments towards Israel,” Greenfield“>published this week. It’s not clear whether his comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will have any influence on the actual outcome of the vote. Nevertheless, there are three congressional districts in New York City that could be in play on Tuesday, and all three of them have a strong Jewish presence. If Sanders thought he could have a chance to beat Clinton by driving up the vote in Park Slope, in Flatbush and Lower Manhattan, among others, Jewish voters in those districts now have a chance to make a difference by preventing him from picking up more delegates.

“If the Sanders campaign was on a mission to alienate undecided NY Jewish Democrats, my message to them would be, ‘mission accomplished,’” said Bennett.

Daniel Sieradski, an organizer of the group “Jews for Bernie” which has 8,000 supporters on Facebook and 2,700 followers on Twitter, pushed back against the critics, painting them as right-wing extremists. “Before Bernie said anything about Israel on campaign trail, Orthodox Democrat machine declared for Hillary and said he was a self-hating Jew,” he tweeted. Sieradski told AFP, “I don’t think it’s political suicide, but it definitely didn’t help him among people who have hard-line views on Israel.”

Professor Alan Abbey, director of internet and media at Shalom Hartman Institute, who covered Sanders in the 1980′s at the for the Burlington Free Press, believes that sweeping statements as to how well Bernie will do among Jews in the Democratic primary are impossible since the New York Jewish population is so diverse. “Orthodox Jews, some of whom are coming out as openly Republican even in Democratic New York, will oppose him not only for his Israel stance, but for many of his liberal social ideas,” Abbey told Jewish Insider. “He will presumably do well on the UWS, while mainstream, suburban Jews will likely split their votes between the two candidates, because of a welter of issues, with Israel not being in the forefront.”

Laura Rosenberger, a foreign policy advisor for Hillary Clinton, appeared on “Community Matters” with Leon Goldenberg, a Saturday night radio show focused on issues that matter to the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, to discuss Clinton’s stance on Israel among others. “When we think about the challenges that the next president is going to walk into the Oval Office and face, I think that there’s a very clear choice that New York voters will face on Tuesday,” Rosenberger said. “And Hillary Clinton not only has the record and experience getting things done, but she has the plan to actually keep our country safe, to protect Israel, and to take that relationship to the next level.”

Clinton scored key endorsements by both Satmar factions, as well as personal endorsements by, Sol Werdiger, Chairman of the Board of Agudath Israel of America, and Rabbi Genack, head of the OU kashrus division.

Yeger predicts Clinton will receive “stronger support in Brooklyn’s Jewish neighborhoods than she’s received in any previous election.”

The Republican presidential candidates have also courted the Jewish vote in the week leading up to the New York primary. Ted Cruz “>remindedNew Yorkers about the Obama administration boycotting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last year during a speech at the New York State GOP dinner on Thursday. John Kasich also visited Jewish communities in “>Long Island. And Donald Trump met on Thursday with some 30 representatives of  Jewish news media outlets, in which he  How Sanders is driving up Jewish support for Hillary Read More »

Bus bombing rocks Jerusalem, at least 21 injured

Leave a Comment / Israel /

At least 21 people were injured in a bus bombing in Jerusalem, police said, in the first such attack in Israel in years.

A city bus exploded and went up in flames Monday evening on a major thoroughfare in the southern end of the capital. The blast set a second bus and a car nearby on fire.

Two people were seriously injured in the attack, with seven moderately injured and 12 lightly injured.

An explosive device was planted in the rear half of the bus, which was stopped on the major thoroughfare at the time of the explosion, according to the Israel Police. Police are examining the possibility that a suicide bomber committed the attack and was among the injured.

“We’re looking into where the explosive came from, who placed it, how he got to the bus,” Jerusalem Police Commissioner Yoram Halevy said, according to Israeli news website Ynet. “We had no specific warning about this explosive. We are fully prepared ahead of the holidays and ready for any eventuality.”

Or Bondy was aboard the No. 12 bus on Moshe Baram Road near Hebron Road when it blew up. He had just sent his father, Tzadok, a text saying “What’s up, dad?”

The newly married 25-year-old, who was on his way home after a day at work, received burns on his face, arms and legs. Two hours later, Or Bondy was entering a CT machine barely able to talk.

“I always pushed it aside,” Tzadok Bondy told reporters regarding Jerusalem’s terror attacks. “Now it’s infiltrated my family.”

The explosion engulfed the nearly empty bus in flames. The flames scorched an adjacent bus, as well as a nearby car. A large fire raged at the intersection and sent smoke billowing into the air.

At Hadassah Medical Center, Ein Kerem, seven of the victims were hospitalized. Three were anesthetized and receiving oxygen.

The victims had burns on their upper bodies, as well as wounds from nails and ball bearings packed into the explosive device. The wounds, according to Avi Rivkind, head of Hadassah’s trauma unit, were similar to those from previous Jerusalem terror attacks.

“We’ll settle the score with these terrorists,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We’re in an ongoing struggle against terror — terror of missiles, terror of shooting, terror of explosives, of missiles and also terror of tunnels.”

The attack follows a six-month wave of stabbing and shooting attacks in Jerusalem, the West Bank and across Israel. The rate of those attacks had declined to normal levels, though Israeli officials remained concerned about a flare-up in violence surrounding upcoming religious holidays, including Passover.

Israel experienced a wave of bus bombings during the second intifada in the early 2000s. The bombings killed hundreds of people and deterred many Israelis from riding buses. Bus bombings declined following an Israeli military operation in the West Bank and the construction of Israel’s West Bank security barrier. In recent years, most Palestinian terror attacks come in the form of either stabbings, shootings or car rammings at public transit stops.

Deputy Jerusalem Police spokesman Assi Aharoni said the police were hunting for suspects and urged the public to be alert.

Bus bombing rocks Jerusalem, at least 21 injured Read More »

Ecuador quake toll rises to 350; billions needed to rebuild

Leave a Comment / Worldwide /

Ecuador's earthquake death toll rose to 350 on Monday as traumatized survivors rested amid the rubble of their homes and rescuers dug for survivors in the Andean nation's shattered coastal region.

More than 2,000 were also injured in Saturday's 7.8 magnitude quake, which ripped apart buildings and roads and knocked out power along the Pacific coastline.

Giving the new tally of fatalities from Portoviejo town inside the disaster zone, President Rafael Correa told Reuters he feared the number would rise even further.

“Reconstruction will cost billions of dollars,” he added.

The normally upbeat socialist president looked deeply moved as he chatted with victims during a tour of the shattered town in the South American OPEC nation, which was already suffering from the global slump in crude oil prices.

Further north, in the beach locality of Pedernales, survivors curled up on mattresses or plastic chairs next to flattened homes. Soldiers and police patrolled the hot, dark streets overnight while pockets of rescue workers plowed on.

At one point, firefighters entered a partially destroyed house to search for three children and a man apparently trapped inside, as a crowd of 40 gathered in the darkness to watch.

“My little cousins are inside. Before, there were noises, screams. We must find them,” pleaded Isaac, 18, as the firemen combed the debris.

Tents sprang up in the town's still-intact stadium to store bodies, treat the injured, and distribute water, food, and blankets. Survivors wandered around with bruised limbs and bandaged cuts, while those with more serious injuries were evacuated to hospitals.

GLOOM FOR ECONOMY

The disaster is dreadful news for Ecuador's economy, already forecast for near-zero growth this year due to plunging oil income.

The energy industry appeared largely intact although the main refinery of Esmeraldas was closed as a precaution. However, exports of bananas, flowers, cocoa beans and fish could be slowed by ruined roads and port delays.

Michael Henderson, analyst at risk consultancy Maplecroft, said Ecuador was less well equipped to recover than Chile where a 2010 earthquake caused an estimated $30 billion in damage.

“Whereas Chile's economy was rebounding strongly from the global financial crisis when its own earthquake struck, Ecuador has been slowing sharply recently as lower oil prices depress activity,” he said.

“But total damage to assets in dollar terms may be quite a bit lower than in Chile due to the smaller magnitude of the earthquake and the fact that Ecuador is a much poorer country.”

The quake could also play into political dynamics ahead of next year's presidential election.

The government's response seemed relatively speedy, with Vice President Jorge Glas – a potential candidate in the February 2017 vote – flying into the disaster zone within hours and Correa coming straight back from a trip in Italy.

But some survivors complained about lack of electricity and supplies, and aid had still not reached some areas.

With Ecuadoreans jittery about possible looting, armed men ambushed and robbed two trucks carrying water, clothes and other basics to Pedernales from Guayaquil, authorities said.

PRISONERS ON THE RUN

About 300 aftershocks have rattled survivors, who huddled in the streets, worried tremors could topple already cracked homes.

“We're scared of being in the house,” said Yamil Faran, 47, surrounded by about 30 people in a street in Portoviejo. “When … the aftershocks stop, we're going to see if we can repair it.”

Some 130 inmates in Portoviejo took advantage of the destruction and chaos to climb over the collapsed walls of the low-security El Rodeo prison. More than 35 were recaptured.

On Monday, people swarmed into the middle of Portoviejo in search of materials of value among destroyed buildings, including a social security office. Desks and papers lay strewn around as locals carried off aluminum window frames and cables.

“I have to take some advantage from this horrible tragedy. I need money to buy food. There's no water, no light, and my house was destroyed,” said Jorge Espinel, 40, who works in the recycling business.

About 13,500 security personnel were mobilized to keep order.

Some $600 million in credit from multilateral lenders was immediately activated for the emergency, the government said. Nearly 400 rescue workers flew in from various Latin American neighbors, along with 83 specialists from Switzerland and Spain.

Two Canadians were among the dead. Jennifer Mawn, 38, and her 12-year-old son, Arthur, died when the roof of their coastal residence collapsed.

Residents on the Galapagos islands, far off Ecuador's coast and home to numerous rare species, said they had not been affected by the quake.

The tremor followed two large and deadly quakes that have struck Japan since Thursday. Both countries are on the seismically active “Ring of Fire” that circles the Pacific, but the U.S. Geological Survey says large quakes separated by such distances would probably not be related.

Ecuador quake toll rises to 350; billions needed to rebuild Read More »