From the Eye of the Sderot Storm-Updated

When Cornell University junior Masha Rifkin volunteered at the Mishol social work office in Sderot she did not expect to be in the middle of a sixty Kassam rocket barrage. But thats what she has live through during the past two days. Masha has been in constant terror watching the rockets explode all around her, as the residents of Sderot await some form of help from their government--so far it hasn't happened. Ms Rifkin eyewitness account will give you the chills, it did to me.

Constant terror in Sderot

Masha Rifkin, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 17, 2007

The first Tzeva Adom (Color Red) Kassam rocket warning siren went off while I was across the street from my office, using a friend's computer on the fourth floor

As usual, we stepped into the corridor - the safest place in the apartment building - and waited.

I counted: 15, 14, 13... I had gotten to 12 when I heard the screams. It was a type of scream I couldn't recognize, half laughter, half terror, complete madness: 11, 10... it hit. A block away at most. Everyone else raced outside; it wasn't until 30 seconds later - when I woke from my daze - that I realized the screaming hadn't stopped.

I was about to join everyone outside when, once more, Tzeva Adom: 15, 14... I had barely reached 13 when it crashed, shaking my entire body - half a block away

My phone rang: It was my boss, Natasha, telling me to immediately come back to the office, as the fourth floor of any building was not safe.

My roommate in Tel Aviv, Jackie, was with me for the day, curious about my work in Sderot, and we ran back across the street to my office, as quickly as we could.

Natasha looked us over, then asked if we had heard the scream. She said a young mother was pushing her child in a stroller when the first siren went off.

She should have had enough time to pick up her son and rush into a nearby basement. Instead, she knocked the stroller over, child inside, and fell to the ground - screaming. She didn't stop until Natasha and others carried her and her child to a neighbor's apartment.

What do you picture when you read about Sderot's "anxiety victims?" It's this woman, convulsing, flailing. It's her inability to think rationally - to protect her child. She was only able to collapse, beating the ground.

Natasha, Jackie and I sat in the social work office, trying to work. That's what you do in Sderot. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. We didn't get much done as every few minutes we received phone calls from hysterical parents. It was 7 p.m., parents were still at work and their children alone at home.

All I could hear was Natasha screaming on the phone: "Calm down... calm down. listen to me, breathe! I won't talk to you until you breathe. Listen, your children are fine. No, I don't know why they're not picking up the phone. They probably ran downstairs. I said calm down."

Then Purim Yaakobov walked in; I will be taking her son to a summer camp in the States in June, and we had set this meeting last week. She had walked amid the Kassams to keep the meeting.

Yaakobov was still dressed in black, mourning her husband, who was killed by a Kassam six months ago. She lowered herself slowly onto a chair, her face absolutely white.

She was reliving her husband's death. She took my hands and, tears rolling down her cheeks, pleaded, "Please, I have nothing. I have no one. My sons are everything. Promise me he will be happy. I need to hear it from you, please, they are all I have."

Jackie - experiencing her first Kassams - threw her arms around her. Yaakobov left the office, and then... Tzeva Adom.

We ran into the corridor; there were many of us now, as the student volunteers were holding a meeting. I tried to count down from 15 again, but was interrupted by a student. She was laughing: "Hamas and Fatah finally made up, and in celebration, they're firing a nice salute to us!" she said.

We all burst out into fits of painful laughter... Boom.The laughter stopped, and someone said what was on all of our minds: "That one was really close."

Again I heard screaming; I looked around and realized that Natasha was no longer there. Suddenly I heard her voice, "Masha, water! Hurry!"

I ran outside and found a circle of women, Natasha at the center, trying to comfort a young girl. Hyperventilating, choking on her tears, yelling for her mother, over and over again. Another "anxiety victim."

Natasha quickly poured cold water on the girls face, and embraced her. The girl clawed Natasha's back and shoulders, leaving deep scratches. Eventually her breathing returned to normal, when it came again: Tzeva adom, tzeva adom. The girl fell to the ground screaming, "No, no, no, no, no!

As I write this, Kassams are hitting Sderot. Children are screaming, mothers are collapsing in despair, and doctors are pulling shrapnel out of the bodies of Jews..

And this came in from my friend Akiva from Mystical Paths

Sderot Update - Picture & Video - - - - - - - posted by Akiva - - 5/17/2007 12:30:00 AM ET

by Akiva at Mystical Paths

An IM update from Shlomo Wollins (of IsraelReporter.com) on the situation in his home town of Sderot, Israel...

It's over 50 Kassam missile hits since this attack round started yesterday. Last night we had 6 in one hour. It's become impossible to sleep, and risky even to go upstairs to take a shower. My neighbor, the lady widely reported hit yesterday, was in her shower when the Kassam hit right above, collapsing the roof and walls of the shower in on her. Her survival was a miracle (but she is critically wounded).

I just got back from Kassam fall a short time ago, at 5 am. Last night one hit an electric junction and knocked out electricity in the city. Electric workers, risking their lives, were able to reroute power after an hour or so.

The bomb shelters are open, but 1/2 are in terrible condition. There are literally only 56 fully functional shelters for 18,000 people. And many of those have insufficient air, water, and facilities.

The town is now a ghost town. Zero people on street, nothing, no kids, no parents, schools are closed. Only a very occassional car.

Hundreds evacuated yesterday. More will certainly go as soon as there's a break in the shelling. Many just drove away, like my neighbors on Pesach. They come back once a week. Tragic.

We are falling apart here. On the medical front, there is only ONE trauma expert for whole city. The UJC promised money for more, but never delivered. I assume Israel told UJC to back off and not help here. Yesterday a woman fainted when they ran to trauma center and found out IT has no protection (no armored roof nor sufficient shelters).

It seems we cannot rely on our government to help. Hashem will clean up the Jewish mess...and that is bad news.

Posted at Mystical Paths. Read it elsewhere? Stop by the source.

On Akiva's website you can see another post Incoming! HE'S HIT! you will also be able to see a dramatic video of a rocket landing practically on top of his his reporter friend. I recommend it highly.