Israelis take to social media to search for family in Nepal
Among 2,000 Israelis in Nepal, 250 have been categorized as 'out of contact;' families turn to Facebook to try and find loved ones.
Among 2,000 Israelis who are currently in Nepal, about 250 have been deemed "out of contact" by the Foreign Ministry.
On Saturday, families in Israel took to social media, posting pictures of their loved ones and requesting others to share any information regarding their fate.
The director-general of the Foreign Ministry, Nissim Ben Shitrit, said on Saturday: "As of now, we have no knowledge of Israeli casualties."
According to the Foreign Ministry, the Himalaya region is a problematic place in terms of communication. Despite this, the number of Israelis considered "out of contact" has become less by the hour, with some Israeli travelers finding ways to contact home.
Yael, whose sister Avigail Rich is traveling in Nepal, told Ynet: "My sister is traveling with two friends. They set out on a trek around Annapurna on April 20. One of them spoke to his family in the morning and Avigail reached out to us yesterday. They continued in the morning but have not contacted us until now.
"One of them has a satellite device but we do not know which company the device belongs to. If there is someone who could help us locate them we would be delighted. The Foreign Ministry has been updated."
Yael Veg, whose sister Tamar is in Nepal, told Ynet she was worried after not hearing from her sister since the earthquake hit. "We spoke to her last on the 18th, before she left for a trek in the Langtang region.
"We turned to the Foreign Ministry's situation room because we were not able to contact the embassy. We are very worried," said Veg. She requested that anyone who has any information about her sister reach out to her via her Facebook account.
Many other Israeli families posted similar messages on Facebook in hopes that other Israelis traveling in the same area in Nepal would somehow be able to locate their family members.
Yael Shavit wrote on her Facebook page: "Please share. Hello friends. Shachar Shavit and Na'ama Shochat are traveling in Langtang in Nepal. Contact was lost because of the earthquake this morning. If you know of travelers in the mountain area who you have contact with, we'd be happy to know. Thank you!"
Meanwhile, Facebook encouraged people in the area to use its new "Safety Check" feature which was especially developed for use during natural disasters. The feature lets people mark eachother as "safe" if they have been in contact with someone in the affected area and then notifies other Facebook friends of the development in real-time.
Ahiya Raved and Itay Blumenthal contributed to this report.
