Officials pronounced the Chabad-Lubavitch center in the heavily-damaged region of Canterbury, New Zealand, structurally sound following the massive 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck the country’s second-largest city earlier this month.
New Zealand Chabad House Pronounced Safe
Officials pronounced the Chabad-Lubavitch center in the heavily-damaged region of Canterbury, New Zealand, structurally sound following the massive 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck the country’s second-largest city earlier this month.
The determination came after board members, citing safety concerns, closed the area’s central synagogue 20 minutes away from the Chabad House.
Chabad of New Zealand director Rabbi Mendel Goldstein, whose roof collapsed into his dining room in the Sept. 4 quake, had expected the Chabad House to be severely damaged, as were most buildings located in the historic quarter. But he told the Australian Jewish website J-wire that he will be taking Israeli Ambassador Shemi Tzur on a tour of the structure.
Speaking from Dunedin, a 374-kilometer distance from the earthquake’s epicenter, Rabbi Shmuel Kopel – the Chabad-Lubavitch emissary there – said that while people in his area felt the quake, no one sustained any damage.
