DUBAI // A team from the UAE Red Crescent has inspected Syrian refugee camps in Iraq to see how work is progressing on four boreholes that are being drilled as part of the UAE Water Aid campaign.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, on the first day of Ramadan launched the campaign to provide potable water to five million people around the world.
Work is now under way in Erbil under the supervision of the UAE consulate in northern Iraq.
The Red Crescent delegation, headed by Humaid Rashid Al Shamsi, deputy secretary general of international aid, was briefed during a meeting with officials in the Kurdistan region on the feasibility of the wells to meet the needs of the local people.
The delegation, which included Saeed Al Mazrouei, director of the international aid, and volunteer Hamad Al Kaabi, also visited a UAE Red Crescent camp for Syrian refugees to see the humanitarian services provided during the holy month and discussed with camp management the future needs of residents.
They met with a number of refugees and asked what was required for Ramadan and Eid Al Fitr, and promised to meet their needs as soon as possible.
The Red Crescent Authority, in collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, has recently begun a project to expand the refugee camp in the Qushtapa district of Iraq. It will include the addition of a nursery, a tailoring workshop and playgrounds for children as part of efforts to cater to the growing number of people fleeing Syria because of the ongoing fighting.
The camp is currently home to about 5,000 people who receive shelter, health care, education and other necessities.
Work on the UAE Water Aid campaign is in full swing, with wells being drilled in several countries.
So far, the donations received have been enough to help more than 3.6 million people.
Red Crescent has identified 60 countries where people face great difficulties in accessing a source of clean water that will benefit from the first phase of the initiative.
Officials have also been communicating with the embassies of Somalia, Tanzania, Ghana, Egypt, Sudan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kurdistan in Iraq.
malkhan@thenational.ae