Sheikh Mohammed has offered his private plane, a B747, to deliver humanitarian assistance to victims of natural disaster
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has offered his private plane, a B747, to deliver much needed humanitarian assistance to those most affected by the natural disaster in Mozambique.
The International Humanitarian City in Dubai is also working to provide life-saving relief to more than 400,000 people.
A 97-metric-tonne shipment of humanitarian aid sent by members of Dubai’s International Humanitarian City arrived at Maputo International Airport. The aircraft from the IHC was loaded with medicine, telecommunications equipment, tents, and shelter toolkits and took off from Dubai on Tuesday.
The critically needed supplies are destined for the coastal city of Beira, Mozambique’s fourth largest city which was battered severely by the cyclone Idai last Thursday.
According to aid officials and relief agencies on the ground, 90 percent of Beira, a city of some half a million people, and its neighboring areas have been destroyed.
There are confirmed reports that tropical storm Idai has claimed the lives of over 200 people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, with the death count rising.
Falling trees and debris from buildings have also injured many thousands. Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi has estimated that up to 1,000 Mozambicans may have lost their lives in the violent tropical storm.
The airlift was arranged by the IHC to support the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD), a logistics consortium of UN agencies and NGOs involved in relief and development.
The operation cost, including transportation, upwards of $548,000, and the IHC supported it from its emergency fund.
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