Woman gives birth in IDF emergency field hospital in Haiti
woman who was eight months pregnant gave birth in the IDF field hospital in Haiti at 2:30 a.m., Sunday. The IDF reported that the infant, a boy, was named Israel. The woman was the first to give birth at the field hospital. The Israeli search teams operating in Haiti will cease looking for survivors buried beneath rubble as of Monda More..y, Army Radio reported Sunday evening. Team commanders reportedly determined that the chances of finding anyone alive more than four days after the quake will be very slim. Home Front Command soldiers currently in Haiti will nonetheless remain on the island, at least until Thursday, and assist IDF medical teams at the Israeli field hospital. Earlier Sunday The IDF reported that it had rescued a 52-year-old man from the ruins. The trapped man had communicated his location by sending a text message on a cellphone. On Saturday Israeli rescue and medical teams quickly joined the international effort on to locate and extricate survivors and provide aid to the millions of Haitians rendered helpless by last Tuesday’s devastating earthquake. Haitian officials are speculating that the death toll may be anywhere from 50,000 to 200,000, and vast numbers of bodies are being buried in mass graves to try to reduce the spread of disease. A third of Haiti’s 9 million people are believed to require aid, with 300,000 living on the streets here in the capital alone. The UN has described the disaster as the most challenging it has faced in terms of resources needed. A strongly felt aftershock, measured at 4.5 on the Richter scale, further complicated rescue efforts on Saturday, forcing a brief suspension of relief activities. A ZAKA rescue unit, deployed at a collapsed multi-story university building, managed to extricate eight students from the rubble over the weekend – underlining the conviction among the Israeli rescue teams that it is not too late to save lives. The Israeli delegation, which arrived on Friday, has established a headquarters near the airport, and swiftly set up its field hospital, unloading dozens of truckloads of medical and logistical equipment. The IDF’s Medical and Rescue Team immediately began work, with two teams from the Oketz canine unit pressed into action, including at the UN headquarters in the capital where there was hope of locating and extricating survivors. Meanwhile, the last Israeli missing in the quake, Sharona Elsaieh, daughter of peace activist Abie Nathan, contacted her family in Israel on Friday. Elsaieh, who has been living on the island for several years, told her family she was in good condition. At Jimani Hospital, just across the border in the Dominican Republic, the extent of the tragedy is overpowering. Hundreds of Haiti’s walking wounded are arriving in an endless stream, needing everything from amputations to abdominal surgery. Inside Haiti, at the capital’s General Hospital, patients lie on dirty mattresses on the floor while doctors do their best to apply splints – made from cardboard boxes – to broken limbs. Hopelessly overwhelmed medics do their best to tend to burned and bleeding gashes amid a stench of sweat and infection, with flies buzzing everywhere. Bodies are stacked outside the building in piles. On the way into Port-au-Prince, cars and trucks have jammed the streets, hugely complicating efforts by international aid and rescue workers to distribute supplies and reach the scenes of devastation. Haitians, covering their faces to protect against swirling dust, are trying desperately to get out of the city, while ambulances, sirens blazing, battle to get through.
