DUBAI, 17 January 2010 (IRIN) - Governments
and NGOs in the Middle East have begun mobilising humanitarian aid for
the survivors of a devastating earthquake in Haiti that may have killed
more than 100,000 people, according to media reports.
The UN has launched an appeal
for US$562 million to help the victims of the 12 January 7.0-magnitude
quake. The funds are intended to support the three million people living
in the quake-affected area for six months.
In the meantime, money and relief
items are being dispatched to the desperate Caribbean Island from around
the Middle East.
The UAE Red Crescent Authority
(RCA) will begin aid flights to Haiti with two planes loaded with tents,
Abdul Rahman al-Taniji, manager of RCA's media and public relations department,
told IRIN.
On 19 January an RCA team will
fly to the Dominican Republic, neighbouring Haiti, to buy food supplies
worth US$500,000 for Haitians, he said.
The Khalifa Bin Zayed Charity
Foundation will dispatch by air 50 tonnes of emergency supplies for survivors,
which is expected to arrive on 19 January, according to Khalil Mohamed,
media representative at Khalifa Foundation.
"This is the initial response
and we are currently in communication with seven international relief organizations
to further extend our assistance," Mohamed told IRIN.
UAE-based Mohammed Bin Rashid
al-Maktoum Charity (MBRMC) and Life for Relief and Development (Life) announced
that it will be sending $1.25 million-worth of food, water, medicine, medical
supplies, clothing and other emergency supplies.
Kuwait, Qatar
Kuwait's ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad
al-Sabah has donated $1 million to Haiti's quake survivors. "It will
be coordinated through the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society [KRCS]. We prepared
100 tonnes of relief items - which include food, medical supplies, tents,
blankets and food items - and are waiting to assign a plane that will carry
them," Yousef Al Me'raj, head of KRCS' disasters department, told
IRIN.
A Qatari C-17 aircraft, loaded
with 50 tonnes of aid, left for the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on
14 January. Qatar also sent a 26-member rescue team comprising soldiers,
police and medics to set up a field hospital and provide assistance wherever
they can.
Qatar Charity (QC) will send an
assessment team in the coming days to assess the needs for the rehabilitation
phase of the disaster. The team will be followed by a consignment of non-food
items for survivors, Issam Adwai, QC director of programmes, told IRIN.
The Qatari Red Crescent (QRC)
has issued an appeal to its citizens for monetary contributions and will
send $100,000 to Haiti very soon, said Khaled Diab, head of the international
programs department at QRC.
Jordan, Lebanon, Iran
A Jordan Royal Air Force plane
carrying the components for a military field hospital and six tonnes of
food, relief items, medicine and clothing from the Jordan Hashemite Charity
Organisation went to Haiti on 14 January. The field hospital includes five
physicians specialised in orthopaedics, general surgery and anaesthesia,
according to local media.
A second military plane carrying
Jordanian medics and medical equipment headed to Haiti on 15 January.
Lebanon will send a plane loaded
with 25 tonnes of tents and three tonnes of medicines, vaccines and other
medical supplies on 19 January.
Iran's Red Crescent society dispatched
by plane about 30 tonnes of humanitarian aid - including food, tents and
medicine - on 16 January. The relief items include tents, sugar, tuna fish
and detergents, according to media reports.
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