Special to the JTA Some 50% of Jews in Harrisburg Area Left Homes Since Accident at Nuclear Plant Si

By a “wild guess,” at least 50 percent of the 5000 Jews living in the Greater Harrisburg area left their homes since last Wednesday when an accident at the Three Miles Island nuclear power plant 12 miles away, spewed radioactive gases into the atmosphere.

According to Albert Hursh, executive director of the United Jewish Community of Greater Harris burg, it is not possible to say precisely how many Jews fled. But “we feel an awful lot of them left,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today, in that has been a general exodus from the Pennsylvania state capital.

Hursh said the area’s five synagogues and the parochial school in Harrisburg have been closed since last Wednesday. All community events were cancelled, including a United Jewish Appeal dinner that was to have been held last night. Hursh said that while he remained at the Jewish Community offices, only one other executive and 3-4 of the 25 full-time and part-time employes showed up for work since the accident.

The Jewish school is to be reopened tomorrow as are Harrisburg public schools. But Hursh could not say how many students or teachers will be on hand. “The crisis is not over.” We could be evacuated at any time,” he said. He said plans now call for evacuating the 60 residents of the Jewish old aged home in Harrisburg tomorrow.

Although official of the U.S. Nuclear. Regulatory Commission said today that the danger of an explosion and melt-down at the crippled plant is over, Hursh was not aware that any Jewish families have returned as of today. He said he would not venture to guess the extent of the economic losses suffered by Jewish businesses in the Harrisburg area but noted that business generally, especially in the retail field, suffered badly. He said community plans to render assistance to Jews, if necessary, will have to wait until the situation is more clear.