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Working Miracles in Haiti:
Top IDF Disaster Rescue Experts Share a Boys Town Jerusalem Bond
Colonel Ben-Tzvi Elyassi during a visit to Washington, D.C. to consult with US rescue and relief authorities.
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As the world intently watched the horrifying earthquake destruction in Haiti, three Israeli Army colonels were closely following the events from 6,500 miles away—with an eye on gaining know-how that will save lives in future catastrophes. The three officers, experts in human rescue, had worked closely in training and equipping the Israeli rescue team who rushed to the scene in Port-au-Prince, and with whom they maintained 24-hour-a-day contact from afar through the duration of their stay. All three share a personal bond: each graduated from Boys Town Jerusalem where they developed a mission to save human lives, anywhere in the world.
"The Israeli rescue and medical team was among the very first to arrive in Haiti, even though they traveled a much farther distance than the others. And with each hour, they gained world renown for working miracles," explained Colonel Ben-Tzvi Elyassi, a commander in the IDF Home Front Command. One of Israel’s top experts in rescue and relief operations, Elyassi's 25-year military career has provided him with “hands-on” experience in saving human lives in disasters of untold proportions. Col. Elyassi assumed second-in-command control of Israeli search-and-relief missions and was dispatched to the 2002 earthquake in India, the 1999 earthquake in Turkey, and the 1999 earthquake in Greece---in addition to a host of military and civilian disasters in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Today, Col. Elyassi, who graduated Boys Town Jerusalem in 1982, heads the Israel Defense Force’s Doctrine and Development Department of the Home Front Command. His department is responsible for developing the nation’s search and rescue techniques, planning for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosives (CBRNe) threats or incidents, and developing new rescue tools and equipment for the Home Front. Building on his own wealth of experience, Elyassi and his entire team are constantly testing and learning from new catastrophes such as the Haitian earthquake. “The Israeli rescue team was headed by officers I’ve trained,” he says. “We were in direct, constant contact with their emergency control center, providing guidance and suggestions. And we are carefully monitored each rescue attempt, with the aim of improving techniques and equipment to be more effective for future disasters.”
One of Col. Elyassi’s top colleagues is Colonel Nir Gluken, who graduated Boys Town Jerusalem’s Israel Henry Beren Electronics Department in 1988. Today Col. Gluken, an engineer in the IDF Ordinance Corps, heads a unit of experts devoted to the research and development of rescue equipment. “Col. Gluken, too, advised and monitored the team in Haiti," Col. Elyassi noted. "The goals are always to perfect the engineering and tools to enable us to find victims and extract them as quickly as possible from beneath massive debris,” Col. Elyassi explained. Colonel Yishai Malka, who graduated Boys Town Jerusalem in 1986, is the deputy base commander of the IDF Rescue Corps. He has taught, prepared, dispatched and accompanied top-notch IDF rescue teams to disasters throughout the world, and it was one of his teams that was dispatched to Haiti.
"When we arrived on the scene of the earthquake in India in 2002," Col. Elyassi recalled, "we travelled through the night. As dawn broke and I caught my first look at the city, I was stunned by the sheer vastness of the destruction. Clearly, Port-au-Prince is similar in terms of the overwhelming devastation." Yet the commander has had his share of experience close to home as well. "We were on the scene almost immediately when the Versailles wedding hall in Jerusalem collapsed and buried hundreds of guests under tons of rubble. We pulled seven people to safety, and sadly extracted many bodies of those who were killed upon impact. It was a very complex rescue operation, and a terrible tragedy."
Colonels Elyassi, Gluken and Malka often discuss their formative experiences at Boys Town Jerusalem. "Our technical education gave us an edge from the moment we enlisted in the army," Col. Elyassi declared, "but most important were the Jewish values we were taught. We were instilled with a respect for the sanctity of human life, and today we recognize the merit we have to save the lives of men, women and children trapped in horrible circumstances. But our main job is to plan well for the future, honing our skills and equipment to do our work most effectively."
Click to see dramatic footage of Col. Ben-Tzvi Elyassi during the rescue of a young girl following a similar devastating 1999 earthquake in Turkey
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