This morning’s news from Israel includes a great statement about generosity, hope and help above profit. Meir Gitelis of Avtipus Patents and Inventions Ltd. is giving away – for free – tsunami alert systems to countries in South East Asia affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunamis. What a moment of pride. I learned of this from an article in Ha’aretz. Here is an excerpt,

An Israeli company said on Monday it planned to distribute free to Asian countries hit by last week’s tsunami a device it says could save lives by warning holiday-makers directly that a tidal wave is coming.
The system developed by Israeli inventor Meir Gitelis uses land and water sensors, smaller than a shoe box and each costing $170, to measure seismic activity and wave motion.

Like other systems already in operation, the sensors can send alerts in seconds by satellite to governments anywhere in the world. Unlike others, this system can also relay warnings directly to private subscribers over cell phones, pagers or dedicated receivers, spreading the message more widely.

Seaside hotels could install a satellite receiver to pick up warnings broadcast over the system seconds after an earthquake that could cause giant waves. Local cell phone or pager networks could do the same and send SMS messages to their subscribers…..”We’re not doing this to make money,” Gitelis said. “He want to help people. We plan to give our product to poor countries for free and we will not charge the countries that were affected by the disaster in Asia.”

Read the rest of the article here.

May this act of generosity inspire others.