UAE to launch new digital response platform to aid disaster-hit countries

Platform will use artificial intelligence and geospatial tools to allow nations to send aid quickly

Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh said the global humanitarian architecture of the past "can no longer keep pace with the crises of the present". Getty

The UAE will launch a new digital response platform that will help disaster-affected countries to quickly communicate their aid needs to the rest of the world.

The country made the announcement on Friday during a UN Security Council debate, state news agency Wam reported.

The platform will utilise technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and geospatial tools, which will be securely hosted on a database.

"We are facing a humanitarian system in crisis. And the architecture of the past can no longer keep pace with the crises of the present," said Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE's permanent representative to the UN.

"The UAE has been developing a digital platform to support governments' ability to better harness international support in the wake of natural disasters," she said.

Ms Nusseibeh added that the UAE will work with governments, the private sector and humanitarian organisations to develop the tool.

The announcement came the same day the UAE sent an aid plane carrying food and medical supplies to Libya, amid deadly flooding caused by Storm Daniel, which hit the eastern parts of the country .

At least 11,300 people have been killed, according to a revised death toll from the Libyan Red Crescent, and at least 10,000 others are missing.

The toll is more than double estimates given by officials from Libya's eastern administration.

Storm Daniel has caused havoc and flash floods in many towns in eastern Libya, with the worst in the city of Derna, where dams were destroyed and floodwaters washed away entire neighbourhoods, authorities said.

Over the past five years, the UAE private sector has contributed over $250 million to humanitarian efforts globally.