The UAE has sent a seventh aid plane loaded with crucial supplies to support Sri Lankan communities devastated by fierce flooding and landslides.
More than 600 people have been killed and about two million impacted following a cyclone that battered the island nation. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has described it as “the largest and most challenging” incident in the country's history.
The Emirates has now delivered 89 tonnes of aid – food supplies, shelter materials and other essential relief items – since the powerful Cyclone Ditwah struck in late November.
The UAE has also sent an emergency task force – it includes members of the Joint Operations Command, the UAE Aid Agency, the Emirates Red Crescent Authority, and the UAE Search and Rescue Team, under the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence Authority – to bolster relief efforts on the ground.
The UAE Search and Rescue Team has recovered 18 bodies of flood victims and provided on-site medical assistance to eight people since arriving in Sri Lankan.
Show of solidarity
The UAE government's humanitarian operation – which was directed by President Sheikh Mohamed – has been backed up by an outpouring of community support.
Sri Lankans living in the Emirates, some of whom had travelled home during the Eid Al Etihad holiday, have formed volunteer groups to send food and clothes to remote areas in desperate need.
The infrastructure damage is immense. Only a quarter of Sri Lanka’s 1,593km railway network is usable. Across the country, 483 dams, 1,936 canals and 55,000 hectares of farmland have been destroyed. The government estimates the cost of the damage amounts to billions of dollars.
The disaster is part of catastrophic regional flooding that has killed more than 1,500 people across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.
