Relief supplies sent for Philippines typhoon victims

Dubai, Nov 26 (IANS/WAM) As the number of affected people in the Philippines continues to rise, humanitarian assistance shipped out from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been distributed in remote regions devastated by super-typhoon Haiyan, also known as Yolanda locally.

The UAE-based logistics centre for humanitarian aid, International Humanitarian City (IHC), said Tuesday that over 1,500 tonnes of relief supplies from stockpiles of various UN agencies and international NGOs have so far been sent from its warehouses.

Over the past two weeks, members and partner organisations of the IHC have been employed heavily in operations for the victims of typhoon Haiyan.

Since the beginning of the disaster, stocks and trucks carrying emergency relief goods have left IHC, and aircraft from Dubai have delivered items in Cebu, Manila, Leyte and Tacloban where operational hubs for relief have been set up to facilitate distribution of the relief items.

The Dubai global logistics office of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) dispatched two Boeing 747 aircraft financed by the British Department for International Development (DFID) to Cebu.

The consignments included rescue vehicles, tarpaulins, hygiene parcels and jerry cans with a total value of $579,500.

An additional Boeing B747 aircraft was sent out Monday with relief supplies worth $393,500.

The Dubai Supply Office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) sent six emergency flights from Dubai World Central, Abu Dhabi and Dubai International airports to the Philippines.

These flights airlifted more than 600 metric tons of relief supplies of mainly family tents, blankets, plastic tarpaulins, water jerry cans, kitchen sets, as well as five vehicles with communication equipment.

--IANS/WAM

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