UAE compassion telethon raises $53m for Huda storm victims

Donations for the UAE’s compassion telethon totalled Dh195 million, equivalent to almost $53 million.
The telethon was aimed at raising funds to provide winter aid for one million refugees and people in the Levant countries to help them survive a powerful snowstorm.
UAE Red Crescent General Secretary Mohammed Ateeq Al Falahi said that the charity campaign showed that various segments of the UAE society were in solidarity with those affected by the severe storm.
The UAE Red Crescent has delivered eight trucks to Jordan, laden with 200 tonnes of in-kind winter relief aid including food parcels, blankets and clothes.
During the past two days, the UAE Red Crescent has sent two cargo planes carrying thousands of tonnes of winter relief materials, he added.
The humanitarian campaign, dubbed ‘Tarahamu’ in Arabic, was launched on Tuesday by Shaikh Khalifa and is being followed up by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai
The campaign, which will run until Tuesday, seeks to raise donations for one million people and refugees in camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza and other Palestinian regions, as well as in the Kurdistan region, after a severe winter storm swept through the area, bringing down temperatures to as low as four degrees Centigrade below zero.