January 16: After the Earthquake

More than 220 Israeli medical and search-and-rescue personnel established a field hospital in Haiti on this date in 2010, four days after the devastating earthquake that took some 100,000 lives (according to the Red Cross; Haitian government officials set the toll at more than 300,000). In the course of the Israelis’ ten-day mission (they were the only international team on the ground during their first days), they would treat more than 1,110 patients, conduct 319 surgeries, deliver 16 babies, and rescue several trapped people, including eight college students in a collapsed university building. For information about ongoing relief and support work by the American Jewish World Service, click here.

“There was a huge amount of stress -- and remember, many of the group were 20-year-olds. We just worked until we dropped. I’ve never seen anything like it.” —Dr. Ian Miskin