Citation
Levinson, J. (2004), "Massacre: Pesach Night 5762 in Netanya", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 13 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2004.07313eab.003
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Massacre: Pesach Night 5762 in Netanya
Massacre: Pesach Night 5762 in Netanya
Kiryat Sanz InstitutionsNetanya, Israel2002This 14-page booklet, written for fundraising purposes, gives a vivid description of the response to the 2002 terrorist attack on a Netanya hotel. Personal testimony accompanies numerous pictures.
Many people do not understand the intricacies inherent in a response. After a bombing it is not a simple evacuation of the wounded. As one volunteer describes: “The ceiling collapsed, water pipes burst, electric wires fell on top of people”. That volunteer was himself injured at the disaster site and was taken to hospital for treatment. The response needed close cooperation from utility companies and from structural engineers.
The use of vests with job titles written on them was evident from the pictures. These vests were used both at the scene and in hospital.
Each Israel Police sub-district has its own volunteer ZAKA (Disaster Victim Identification) unit, organized under the Police Civil Guard. In the Sharon sub-district there are two units, Kfar Saba and Netanya, due to the large area covered.
The Netanya unit was established in 1998 by 20 ultra-Orthodox volunteers from the Kiryat Sanz neighbourhood. Their participation was specifically allowed by the local Chassidic rabbi, who limited working in the programme to married men. The highest profile incident handled by the unit was the 2002 suicide bombing in the Netanya Park Hotel. Their activity was support to the police at the scene and presence in the local hospital, to which many victims were evacuated.
In the first third of 2004 the ZAKA/Netanya unit handled 15 incidents. This included response to several fatal traffic accidents.
This ZAKA unit receives no financial support from public funding. All monies are budgeted from the Netanya municipality and from the Israeli police.
Jay Levinson