It’s a boy! 2nd baby born in Yolanda’s aftermath

A week after “Yolanda” struck, a second baby was born amid the devastation caused by the super typhoon in the Visayas.

“Mazel Tov. It’s a boy!” the attending physician, Dr. Reuven Keidar exclaimed, after her mother delivered the baby. Her mother, Emylous Antigua, carried by her husband, Audrin, was experiencing labor pains when members of the Israeli Defense Forces’ medical team caught their attention, the Israel Embassy to the Philippines said.

The husband-and-wife tandem sought the help of the Israelis who just installed a field hospital in Bogo City, Northern Cebu. Antigua named the baby “Israel” to show her gratitude to the Israeli team composed of doctors, surgeons, nurses and rescue personnel.

Israel Antigua weighed 2.3 kg, the Israeli embassy to the Philippines said. Three days after the Israeli Defense Forces were deployed, the Israel relief operation team was able to assist 250,000 people affected by the Typhoon Yolanda, the embassy said. They gave packets of food and water to residents.

As soon as the special field hospital has been installed on Thursday, hundreds of patients from all walks of life have been rushing to the emergency room seeking for treatment.

“This was a different battlefield for the IDF, but not something unaccustomed to. A similar field hospital was established in Haiti, in 2010 and in Turkey in 2011,” the Israel embassy said, adding that the mission was named “Operation Islands Hope”.

Bogo City lies nearly a 100 kilometers away from Cebu City—one of the 37 provinces ravaged by Typhoon Yolanda. Israel embassy said that since the havoc brought by the typhoon, this town has never been visited by “any men and women in uniform”. Three days after the typhoon, a baby girl was born at the Tacloban airport.

That baby named Bea Joy in honour of her grandmother Beatriz who died in the storm. “She is my miracle. I had thought I would die with her still inside me when high waves came and took us all away,” Emily Ortega Sagalis said in a report last Monday.