Magen David Adom to fly home four premature babies caught in second Nepal quake
Parents of babies had wanted to leave Nepal before the births, but were unable to do so because the surrogate mothers lacked travel documents.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, TOVAH LAZAROFFA MDA medic holds a baby, born to a Napalese surrogate mother [Illustrative](photo credit: REUTERS)
Magen David Adom is working to fly home four premature Israeli babies and their parents, who were caught in a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Nepal on Tuesday.When the earth shook, Israelis Yoav Aliani and his partner, Moran Ben- Dror, were in a hospital in Kathmandu with their tiny twins, who were hooked up to machines.“I tore the wires with my teeth,” Aliani told Channel 2. The television station showed footage of him standing outside with his daughter, still wearing a blue hospital smock.“Get us out of here!” he said to the television cameras.Magen David Adom is working to fly home four premature Israeli babies and their parents, who were caught in a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Nepal on Tuesday.When the earth shook, Israelis Yoav Aliani and his partner, Moran Ben- Dror, were in a hospital in Kathmandu with their tiny twins, who were hooked up to machines.“I tore the wires with my teeth,” Aliani told Channel 2. The television station showed footage of him standing outside with his daughter, still wearing a blue hospital smock.“Get us out of here!” he said to the television cameras.According to the Foreign Ministry, none of some 100 Israelis who are in Nepal was injured by the quake, which has so far claimed 66 lives.Tuesday’s quake follows a larger April 25 earthquake, in which more than 8,000 people were killed.
The parents of the four premature babies had wanted to leave Nepal before the birth but were unable to do so, because the surrogate mothers lacked travel documents.Providing them with such documents proved to be overly difficult on such short notice.MDA spokesman Zaki Heller said that his organization would fly the babies out as soon as it could secure an airplane. One of the babies has to be brought home in an incubator, he said.On Tuesday morning in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted the returning IDF Nepal delegation, which landed at Ben-Gurion Airport just after the second earthquake struck the Himalayan state.The prime minister suggested there may be a need for the delegation to return to Nepal in the coming days, in the aftermath of the second quake.“I am certain that you are already prepared for your next mission, wherever that may be, and according to the news the next mission may already be upon us. I said to the ambassador from Nepal a few minutes ago that we are ready to help with all our capabilities even now,” he said. “The world is gradually learning they have someone to count on.”Netanyahu spoke of the accomplishments of the delegation.“You helped 1,600 wounded people and brought new life with at least eight births.You have shown the true face of Israel– a country that values life.”The ceremony was attended by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and Nepal Ambassador Prahlad Kumar Prasai.On Tuesday night the ministry said that no plans and been made to send another Israeli delegation to Nepal.Rabbi Chezky Lifshitz, co-director of the Chabad in Nepal, wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday night that dozens of Israelis were sitting with him, outside the Chabad house, trying to relax after the earthquake.They had sleeping bags and have moved the sofas outside, he said, and added that people were preparing to sleep outdoors.“There are still people confused and wounded on the streets,” he said.Once again, he said, he was witnessing the now familiar sight of hundreds of people seeking a safe place to sleep at night.He said that Chabad was offering warm meals to whoever needed them.Following the earthquake Tuesday, Israeli-based humanitarian aid agency IsraAID released a statement in which its head of mission stated that phones were down in Kathmandu and people were outside, afraid to come indoors.“I am worried for vulnerable neighborhoods like Gongabu, where our search and rescue team rescued Krishnadevi last week. The houses there are not sturdy, and many were damaged by the earthquake.We are on the way there now,” said Yotam Polizer, IsraAID’s head of mission on the ground in Nepal.IsraAID, an Israeli-based humanitarian aid agency, currently has medical and psychosocial teams on the ground and is distributing goods in Nepal, in coordination with the Nepalese government, UN agencies, and NGOs.Reuters contributed to this report.