A plan for aiding Jewish victims of the Orleansville, Algeria, earthquake of last month has been received by the Joint Distribution Committee from Benjamin Heler, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Algeria.
The plan, which was forwarded with a report of the condition of the Jewish community of the stricken city, was drawn up after Mr. Heler had toured the Orleansville area, accompanied by Algerian Chief Rabbi Fingerhut and leaders of the Algerian community. Thirteen Jews died in the tremor.
Mr. Heler reported that the 130 Jewish families in the city, totalling about 700 persons, were rendered homeless and their businesses were destroyed in the shock. Only some 20 families, mostly those of government employees, have remained in the city to assist in its restoration to some semblance of normality; the remainder have fled to surrounding villages which in the past had no Jewish inhabitants. Among those who refused to leave the city was Dida Ghenassia, president of the Orleansville Jewish community, who is working with the authorities to restore order.
Since the Jewish families are scattered, Mr. Heler recommended that no specifically Jewish relief project be organized. Emergency relief in the form of food, shelter, clothing and medicines are being distributed by the government authorities through the army, Red Cross and various public services, he underlined.
However, with the destruction of billions of francs worth of Jewish-owned property, a loan fund will be needed to enable Jewish victims to rebuild their lives. He suggested that an initial loan fund of 15, 000, 000 francs, to be augmented later, would be “enough to start the job of rehabilitation that looms before us.”
The Algerian Jewish leader described the pre-tremor Jewish community of Orleansville as having been well-to-do, without relief rolls and without ever having asked help of outside agencies. Of the 130 families, he said, the heads of 20 were artisans, 25 were small businessmen, 15 were large retailers or wholesalers and 40 were white collar workers.
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