Waves Of UAE Aid Reach Refugee Camps In Levant Before Storm Hits, While UAE Compassion Campaign Receives Overwhelming Response

The rushed relief shipments and aid from the UAE stated arriving to refugee camps early Wednesday morning just before the snowstorm Huda reaches its peak. This has been a new record for UAE humanitarian organizations who collaborated to execute the campaign just 12 hours after its launch.

The campaign was under the direction of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President, and under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, and was launched under the name “UAE Compassion” on Tuesday, aiming to aid one million refugees and relieve their suffering of the harsh winter conditions cause by snowstorm Huda currently hitting the Levant.

The first of the many planes in this humanitarian air-bridge, departing from the International Humanitarian City, has landed in Jordan early morning Wednesday. The UAE Red Crescent has already started distributing of the relief packages on the ground in both Jordan and Iraqi Kurdistan to help those suffering from the snowstorm.

In the UAE, the campaign received great response from the people and organizations alike, which only confirms the seriousness of this country’s humanitarian message and its people’s passion to relieve the suffering and help those in need.

Dubai Islamic Bank Foundation has donated 10 million dirhams. The Fujairah Welfare Association has donated 1 million dirhams, union Cooperative Society donated 1 million dirhams, and Al Ansari Exchange donated 1 million dirhams. Other contributors included Mr. Khalaf Al Habtoor who donated 1 million dirhams, Mr. Abdul Rahim Mohamed Al Zarooni who donated 1 million dirhams, while 200,000 dirhams were donated by the Obaid Al Helo Quran Learning Centre, and another 1 million dirhams came from a contributor who wished to remain anonymous.

The UAE Red Crescent has confirmed that those interested in joining the campaign and contributing in any way possible can drop their kind donations at any of its branches spread all over the UAE, in addition to accepting monetary donations via SMS through Etisalat and Du networks , or calling directly the toll free Number 800733. The numbers of the campaign’s bank accounts have already been communicated in all media outlets.

Over the next few days, Dubai Cares would launch a group of initiatives at several malls around the country to collect winter donations from the public. Another set of initiatives would be launched at schools to encourage students of all ages to participate in the campaign.

The nationwide Compassion Campaign, has gathered, and from the first moment of its initiation, great support and response from generous citizens wanting to help. The media outlets have expressed their gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid AL Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, for their impactful role in this campaign and their continuous support to several humanitarian causes. The Arab and Emirati community reacted overwhelmingly to the campaign using the hashtag #UAECompassion on social media, pushing the hashtag into the list of most used hashtags in the UAE.

The Compassion Campaign aims to aid a million refugees suffering from the harsh winter conditions in Jordan and Lebanon, in addition to Palestine and Gaza, to help them survive the temperatures dropping to -4 Celsius. This comes as the Levant faces a fierce snowstorm that arrived few days back bringing heavy hail, rain and snow. A work force has been set up to execute the directions of His Highness the President and under the patronage of His Highness the Vice President, to stand by the women and children in refugee camps during snowstorm Huda. The storm, with originated in the North Pole, has already hit Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon with wind speed expected to hit 110 Km/hour, heavy snow falls on mountains, and a severe wave of piercing cold across the affected region.

For more information, visit ihc.ae