Jewish humanitarian groups step in, or try to, as crises unfold in Haiti and Afghanistan
International | August 16, 2021
Two major humanitarian crises are eliciting the involvement of Jewish aid organizations, although it is unclear whether much can be done from afar to support Afghans now that the Taliban has retaken their country.
An earthquake struck Haiti early Saturday, killing nearly 1,300 with the death toll likely to rise. Meanwhile, a tropical storm is bearing down on the beleaguered country, which is experiencing political instability and still recovering from a devastating 2016 hurricane and a 2010 earthquake in the capital of Port-au-Prince that left more than 220,000 people dead.
Among the many foreign groups directing aid to Haiti is the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which first engaged with the country in the 1930s, when Haiti was one of just a handful of countries to accept Jewish refugees from the Nazis. The JDC worked to support those refugees… (Excerpts from JTA)