A Philippines typhoon. Photo: Wikipedia.

JNS.org – Jewish groups organized relief efforts following Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded. Authorities said it is possible that more than 10,000 people died from the storm.

“We immediately activated our network of global partners and will leverage our previous experience in the region to provide immediate, strategic relief to survivors in their time of need,” said Alan Gill, CEO of The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

The American Jewish Committee said it gave a grant to the Israeli relief organization IsraAID for humanitarian efforts in the Philippines.

JDC’s Gill said the relief efforts “are especially poignant for us given the Philippines’s life-saving actions during the Second World War, when the country offered safe haven to more than 1,000 Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi onslaught.”