The heavy rains and stormy weather which have gripped Israel since Friday continued today, hampering rescue operations in the Maabarot, the transit camps where about 180,000 immigrants are sheltered in tents and huts.
It is estimated that 600 of the 10,000 tents in the camps have been damaged by the gale. George Josephthal, head of the absorption department of the Jewish. Agency, reported that six immigrant villages suffered heavily in the last few days and 13 others were hit to a lesser extent.
More army units took over today the work of supervising the reconstruction of the tents while hundreds of children were transferred by military personnel from the damaged Maabarot to nearby army camps. Army bulldozers canalized the area while engineers repaired the huts. Military authorities also completed emergency plans for the immigrant camps in anticipation of further damage.
Chief of Staff Yigal Yadin today inspected a number of the immigrant camps which are under army supervision. He promised that army engineers and technical personnel will be rushed to secure the immigrant tents and huts in case of another storm. The regular and reserve troops on duty at the immigrant camps were praised in a special order by the Chief of Staff for their exemplary behaviour in rescue operations at the immigrant camps.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
