Flooding Destroys a Jewish Community in Argentina

Only a friendly voice, speaking Yiddish, could get 90-year-old Mr. Jajam off the roof of his house. He had climbed up four days before, after the brackish waters of the Salado River swept swiftly his neighborhood in Santa Fe, Argentina. He had stayed up there for three days and three nights, watching the river climb up until it covered the windows and got within inches of the rooftop. Mr. Jajam had refused to leave, and had rebuffed the policemen and firemen that came in boats to rescue him. He had even disobeyed his rabbi, who argued with him for half an hour from a boat. But now he was tired and running out of food: the large box of matzoh that he had grabbed from the kitchen and had been his sole nourishment was almost empty. The Yiddish did the rest.

Mr. Jajam is one of hundreds of Jews who have been evacuated after forty percent of Santa Fe, a city 300 miles north of Buenos Aires with a population of 400,000, was covered by the Salado river in the worst flood ever recorded there. Over 35,000 people were evacuated and 50,000 ran away when the river overflowed last week, after days of storms and heavy raining. The waters destroyed 14 schools, two hospitals, hundreds of private homes, gas stations and shops.

Many, like Mr. Jajam, refused to leave their homes and climbed onto their roofs. In the areas laying closer to the river, some paid with their lives: so far there are 22 people reported dead and authorities fear that the toll might be as high as 100. There are 1200 people reported missing.

While the government and private charities across Argentina sent help immediately, the crisis strained the resources of the Argentine Jewish Community to the limit. The local Jewish Community Centers organized groups of volunteers to search for community members and set up refugee shelters at the local clubs and schools. It was volunteers from the Macabi JCC that finally convinced Mr. Jajam to climb down from his rooftop into a boat.

Gonzalo, a JDC staff person from Buenos Aires, was sent to Santa Fe to bring help. With the city in a sanitary emergency -there are already seven cases of Hepatitis reported-Gonzalo received tetanus, typhus and hepatitis vaccination before leaving. He was bringing an asset that was growing scarce in the city - cash. The money will be needed to keep the Jewish Community Centers open for the refugees.

Every day, Gonzalo and other volunteers ride in boats to search for missing Jews. They also try to rescue other treasures. This was the case with Jorge and Sebastian, two volunteers who helped Mr. Efron, a senior member of the local Sephardim synagogue, to rescue his Judaica library. Mr. Efron has spent his lifetime amassing a Jewish library and, in the rush to take his family to safety, left it behind at his home. Jorge and Sebastian took him back to his house and literally fished out the books that were floating all over the living room. Mr. Efron now spends his days drying them at the Macabi JCC. Sometimes, he cries softly. "We spent all day rescuing the books," Jorge told us. "From the early morning right until the 6 pm curfew."

"They have nothing now," says Gonzalo. "After days under water, even the furniture collapses. Just imagine the state their homes are in."