DISASTER RELIEF

Natural disasters leave communities locally and across the world reeling from the destruction caused by hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, tsunamis, and other forces of nature. We have the resources and experience to work with our partners to rebuild lives.

Update on Earthquake Disaster 

As the situation in Turkey and Syria unfolds, we are closely monitoring needs with our global partners and deploying resources strategically.

• More than 50,000 people have been killed after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria. The quake is one of the strongest to hit the region in more than 100 years.
  
  
• The Israeli government has sent a delegation of 150 search and rescue experts and a team of 140 medical personnel in a mission called “Olive Branches.”

Activating our emergency protocols, UJA has approved an allocation of $278,000 to six nonprofits. The six initial organizations:

• American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency, our two largest overseas partners, to support their ongoing efforts helping members of the Jewish community and beyond.
  
  
• Latet, a leading social service provider in Israel, which is working closely with the Israel-Turkey Chamber of Commerce, various embassies, IsraAID, SmartAID, United Hatzallah, and others to send humanitarian aid. The aid is being delivered on donated Turkish airplanes; the first has already arrived.
  
  
• Afya, a longstanding UJA partner in crisis relief, which is sending five container loads of medical supplies via the Turkish embassy to support the needs of the injured.
  
  
• The Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood, based in New York and with longstanding ties to the Jewish community of Turkey, which is helping to provide food, shelter, and medicine.
  
  
• IsraAID, Israel’s leading non-governmental humanitarian aid group, is coordinating with the Turkish embassy and Turkey’s office of disaster relief to develop water, sanitation, and hygiene initiatives.
  
  

You can support our efforts by giving right now to UJA's Earthquake Relief Fund.
100% of your donation will go directly to relief efforts.  

OUR IMPACT

• When tornadoes tore through Kentucky in 2021, we supported relief efforts by the Louisville (Kentucky) Federation and the Afya Foundation that included airlifting medical supplies and hygiene kits.
  
  
• When Hurricane Laura wrought a path of destruction in Louisiana and Texas in 2021, we supported the Afya Foundation’s relief efforts.
  
  
• When a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti in 2021, we provided emergency funds to the Afya Foundation for emergency supplies and to Capracare, a Haitian-led global health nonprofit with a strong record for providing on-the-ground relief.
  
  
• When Hurricane Dorian, the strongest hurricane on record in the Bahamas, hit in 2019, we provided humanitarian aid. Learn more. 
  
  
• When Hurricanes Florence and Michael hit the Carolinas and the Florida panhandle in the fall of 2018, we collaborated with the Afya Foundation, organizing collection sites for essential goods and a volunteer day to sort and package supplies.
  
  
• When a deadly earthquake and tsunami struck Indonesia in fall 2018, our overseas partner the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, was on the ground providing emergency medical services, essential supplies, and psychosocial support.
  
  
• When Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit Puerto Rico and the Caribbean in the fall of 2017, we led a substantial relief effort. We helped dispatch 29 flights and a cargo ship to Puerto Rico and St.
  Thomas, delivering more than 100,000 pounds of humanitarian and medical supplies worth more than $4 million.
  
  
• When Hurricane Harvey in 2017 left a path of destruction in Texas, we sent senior staff members to Houston to share expertise gained during Hurricane Sandy. Our support, close to $1 million, provided cash assistance, relocation for a day school and early childhood center, trauma relief through the Israel Trauma Coalition, and other services. Learn more about our relief effort.
  
  
• When Hurricane Sandy ravaged New York in 2012, we allocated more than $14 million to nonprofit partners, synagogues, and Jewish day schools. Our support provided cash assistance for more than 2,000 people, nonmedical supplies for 25,000 individuals, and 281,000 meals. We also enabled trauma counseling, legal services, financial counseling, and door-to-door outreach.
  
  
• When Hurricane Katrina in 2005 took a terrible toll on thousands of lives and homes, UJA raised $5 million to support crisis intervention, health care, reconstruction, and recovery for the most vulnerable. We also contributed to the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast’s Jewish communities.