Widespread flooding in Gaza forces thousands to flee homes

[Jefferson23]

By Alex Shams

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Gaza Strip was pounded by fierce winds and rain again on Friday as flooding reached dangerous levels in many areas, forcing thousands to flee their homes amid widespread power outages as temperatures plunged into the single digits.

The flooding was worst in the northern Gaza Strip, where hundreds fled their homes and water levels reached 40-50 cm in some parts, forcing residents to use boats to navigate their neighborhoods.

The Gaza government said in a statement on Friday that so far 2,825 people have been evacuated from their homes, reaching a total of 458 families.

The evacuated were being sheltered in schools across the Strip, the statement was reported by Gaza-based Safa News Agency as saying, as Hamas civil defense authorities rushed to evacuate flooded homes.

http://www.maannews.net/ENG/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=656905

[aranthus]

1. Here's one way you can help.

From the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour: Dear all, Since the grave humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is worsening, due to the freezing temperatures, shortage of fuel, electricity and the water flooding, hundreds of Palestinian are forcibly leaving their houses, seeking shelters in the schools. They lost all their belongs, so they need OUR HELP!!! On Tuesday morning a group of humanitarian workers will travel to Gaza and they want to bring clothes, blankets, shoes to the Strip, so we are making a collecting point in the AIC. Please help us, come and bring any kind of clean warm clothes. No later than this Monday at 6.PM For more details on the collecting point contact: Luca: [e-mail] jawwal: 0592367157 Valentina: [e-mail] jawwal: 0597362012 orange: 0546818291 Ramallah collecting point: Salvo: [e-mail] jawwal: 0597377364 orange: 0547867398 Adriano: [e-mail] Jawwal: 0597038149 orange: 0549905262


I'm trying to find out if there are any affiliated relief groups around the world. I'll let you know if I find any.

[Jefferson23]

2. You mean me and not yourself?

You have a link to the group?



Who else do you think is able to get in under these conditions?

snip* The United Nations Relief and Works Agency said it was working "round the clock" to hand out food parcels, mattresses and blankets in the worst-affected areas.

The growing sense of crisis was mirrored in Israel, where authorities struggled to cope despite significantly better infrastructure and resources.

People carefully make their way through a snowy back street in Jerusalem (GETTY IMAGES)

Up to 15 inches of snow blocked many streets in Jerusalem, where thousands of residents endured power cuts that started on Thursday night. Several trees in the city were felled by high winds during the early hours of Friday morning.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/10516498/Historic-snow-storms-spread-havoc-and-misery-across-the-Middle-East.html

[aranthus]

3. I was posting it for anyone.

I'm here in the US.

[Jefferson23]

4. Great, and thank you. n/t

[Israeli]

6. here is the link you asked for Jefferson23.....

http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/about-the-aic

The Alternative Information Center (AIC) is a joint Palestinian-Israeli organisation promoting justice, equality and peace for Palestinians and Israelis.

The AIC believes that peace can be just and lasting only when based on ending Israel's colonial occupation, securing the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the right of refugees to return. Only such a just peace, based on international law, can guarantee individual and collective rights of both Palestinians and Israelis.

Co-founded by Michel Warschawski who also co-founded Yesh Gvul ..... yet another Israeli Left wing activist who shira thinks ia an " asshole " ....

see : http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1134&pid=53206

[Jefferson23]

8. Thanks! n/t

[Jefferson23]

5. OCHA: Number of displaced tops 10,000 in Gaza

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Approximately 10,000 people have been forced to flee their homes due to widespread flooding in the Gaza Strip, according to a report released Saturday evening by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The numbers of displaced dwarf earlier estimates, as they take into account both the thousands who have sought refuge in Gaza shelters as well as those who have sought refuge elsewhere.

Previous estimates released by the Gaza government had measured only those who had sought refuge in official shelters, who at their peak reached above 5,000 but were estimated at around 2,234 on Sunday.

In a comprehensive report on winter storm Alexa's effects on the Palestinian Territories, OCHA reported that as of Saturday at 9 p.m., 10,000 Gazans had been evacuated from their homes and had gone to either shelters or relatives' houses.

http://www.maannews.net/ENG/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=657298

[azurnoir]

7. Qatar donated 450,000 liters of fuel to run pumps

"Before the rains, there was sewage flooding in the streets because sewage pumps did not have electricity to pump waste water," Gunness said, referring to a number of incidents in recent weeks.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out who's responsible for that."

Despite Israel's opening of the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza on Sunday to deliver 450,000 liters of fuel donated by Qatar, Gunness remained pessimistic.

"Short-term measures are essentially meaningless to people living in Gaza," he said, adding that "these solutions are only about the hours to come, but we need to be thinking about the coming decades."

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=657294