First aid plane takes off from Dubai to Pakistan for flood victims
- 05 Sep 2022
Gulf Today, Staff Reporter
Under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the first aid plane took off from Dubai’s International Humanitarian City (IHC) warehouses, heading towards Pakistan and carrying urgent aid and humanitarian relief items to victims of the deadly floods that drowned a third of Pakistan, affecting millions of people and destroying large plots of agricultural land.
The first batch constituted three plane trips to Karachi carrying 33 tonnes of humanitarian relief, as well as shelter items from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stockpiles in Dubai aboard C130 military planes.
The first batch of the humanitarian airbridge, organised by MBRGI from IHC, will benefit 13,600 people directly affected by the floods in Pakistan.
Over the next week, nine additional flight rotations are planned to dispatch further relief items on behalf of IHC partners, including the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
IHC is coordinating humanitarian relief efforts on behalf of partners and stakeholders under the umbrella of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI) to alleviate the suffering of thousands.
The aid will provide basic medical and health supplies that mitigate the spread of diseases caused by stagnant water gatherings in flooded areas, living supplies such as personal hygiene tools to facilitate the lives of displaced people living in shelters, and food aid for individuals and families most affected by the crisis.
