Zaka Completes Its Preparations At Mount Meron For Lag Ba’omer Festivities (Photos)

By BJLife Israel Newsroom
Posted on 04/26/18

*1220 ZAKA hotline for lost children * Wrist identification tags for children * ZAKA volunteers to distribute 30,000 bottles of water

Jerusalem, April 26, 2018 - Once again, the ZAKA Rescue and Recovery volunteer organization are ready for the tens of thousands who are expected to participate in the annual Lag Ba’Omer celebrations on Mount Meron, the resting place of kabbalist Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

Working in cooperation with the Israel Police, ZAKA will work to locate the many children who become parted from their families in the crowds, offer emergency medical assistance and help with search and rescue, where necessary.   ZAKA volunteers will be operating at the site continuously from Wednesday morning, (May 2) though Shabbat evening (May 5)

• Tens of thousands of identification wristbands will be distributed for children (with their name and contact details of family members). This creative initiative, started several ago by ZAKA, has proved its success in helping identify lost children - and reunite them with their parents - in the shortest possible time
• A special hotline for missing children and adults (1220 from any phone) will be manned by ZAKA volunteers throughout the Lag Ba’Omer celebrations.
• A special, two-room center for lost children, with games and equipment, will be set up on site.
• A dedicated area for administering emergency first aid
• ZAKA all terrain vehicles, equipped with loudspeakers to help find missing children, and ambulances will be at the site for use as and when necessary.
• ZAKA volunteers will distribute about 30,000 bottles of water to prevent dehydration

ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav: “As we do every year, dozens of ZAKA volunteers will be working in shifts round the clock at Mount Meron, offering a variety of services to help the hundreds of thousands who flock to the site to celebrate Lag Ba'omer. All this, in cooperation and coordination with the emergency and rescue forces."