UAE aid airlift to Syrian refugees: The President, Sheikh Khalifa, on Tuesday ordered a rapid emergency airlift of lifesaving aid to a million Syrian refugees as a fierce winter storm threatened the Levant. Blankets, winter clothes, medicine, food and heaters are being flown to refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, and to Gaza and other parts of the Palestinian territories. The first flight was due to take off in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The President urged the public to join the relief effort. “The sons of the UAE are the sons of good and generous Zayed,” Sheikh Khalifa said. “We invite all our citizens and residents to participate in this national campaign to aid our refugee brothers and sisters suffering from harsh winter conditions in the Levant.” Syrian refugees are already facing temperatures below freezing, heavy snow, hail, rain and thunderstorms forecast to continue until Sunday. Wind speeds will exceed 110kph as the storm moves from Turkey through Syria to Jordan. The storm, called Huda, will be the harshest in the Levant this winter, weather forecasters have warned. Winter storms in the past few years have battered refugees’ tents and turned their camps into frozen swamps. This year’s weather is expected to be as harsh, if not worse. The plight of the refugees has been made worse by food shortages after the World Food Organsiation suspended aid to 1.7 million refugees when it ran out of cash. There are more than 3.2 million refugees in the region, and the number is growing. More than seven million people inside Syria have been displaced. Andrew Harper, the United Nations refugee agency’s representative in Jordan, said all that could be done was to wait and see what the storm would bring. He expected it to hit Jordan today. Mr Harper said refugees in the Zaatari camp in Jordan, 10km east of Mafraq, had already been told to start taking precautions and secure their tents against strong winds. In Jordan alone, the agency, the UNHCR, is looking for US$800m, nearly Dh3 billion, to cope with the steady influx of refugees. “We cannot look after 3.2 million people with no resources,” he said. “It is a costly operation but the stakes have never been higher. “We have one of the most effective refugee responses in Jordan. Only through the support of countries such as the UAE we can do that.” Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, has also ordered the formation of a special joint task force of the Emirates Red Crescent, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment, the International Humanitarian City and Dubai Cares to start an aid plan immediately. ERC was called in for meetings until late on Tuesday to finalise logistics. Its secretary general, Mohammed Al Falahi, said the airlift would continue every day for a week. “We are expecting conditions to be difficult this winter.” On Twitter, Sheikh Mohammed briefed his 3.5 million followers about the relief plan, and called for organisations to step in. “Brothers and sisters, news have warned of a strong storm that will hit the Levant where the cold and snow will fall heavily and temperatures will reach -4°C,” he said. “I ask of all global and humanitarian organisations and governments to stand up for the children and women in the refugee camps as they will face the storm in their tents with little food.” The airlift is in the tradition of UAE giving that is expanding to help hundreds of thousands of people around the world, said Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of International Cooperation and Development head of the committee that co-ordinates humanitarian aid. The humanitarian effort showed Sheikh Khalifa’s “understanding of the crisis as well as his deep desire to spare our brothers in the Levant from the tragic onslaught of harsh weather”, she said. Mr Harper said the UNHCR appreciated the work of the UAE leadership. “The best way to get quick support is through cash. We can transfer money in a day. It takes a long time to put things on trucks. Given that this storm is coming through, this is the most effective. “One of the challenges is paying electricity bills for the camps. We don’t have money to pay to keep refugees warm.” He said the UNHCR provided 21,000 families with cash assistance and wanted to give 8,000 other “extremely vulnerable” families the same, but lacked funds. Half of refugee families were headed by women, he said. (Courtesy : The National)
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 06:11:42 +0000