Abu Dhabi: The Nepalese community leaders have expressed their gratitude to the UAE residents for their generous help for the earthquake victims but they look for two basic services to speed up the efforts.
“We are receiving non-financial aid with the logistical support of two organisations in the UAE. But we need more storage space in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and free cargo service to send the shipment to Kathmandu,” a community leader told Gulf News on Thursday.
“We have already received two containers of relief materials, which are expected to go up to five containers that can be sent by a cargo flight within three days,” said Krisna Bhosal, the president of the UAE chapter of Non-Resident Nepalese Association (NRNA), an organisation registered with the Government of Nepal.
NRNA has been coordinating the efforts in cooperation with the Nepalese Embassy in Abu Dhabi and Nepalese community groups in the UAE. The embassy has asked for medicines, tents, dry foods (rice, lentils and canned foods), mineral water, water purifiers, blankets, sanitation kits and mattress.
In Abu Dhabi the goods are stored at the embassy, and in Dubai a businessman and some individuals have offered storage space. “As more goods are coming, we need more space both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. And we are looking for a free cargo service to Kathmandu,” Bhosal said.
MPLUS, a facility management company, and Children of the Mountain, a non-profit for Nepalese children, are supporting the campaign.
A Facebook post by Children of the Mountain said Red Crescent informed them on Thursday that they are only accepting newly purchased items and nothing second-hand, due to their policy in sending items overseas. “We are working on finding a solution and a way to get these much-needed items to Nepal,” it said.
MPLUS started collecting the goods from donors and transporting them to the collection centres since Wednesday. “Our email [about this mission] to around 20,000 (twenty thousand) clients received very good response,” Stacey Murtagh, brand manager at MPLUS, told Gulf News on Thursday. Prospective donors can call up the company’s toll free number 800-67587.
“We have dedicated staff for this purpose,” Murtagh said.
A school and nursery in Sharjah have offered huge quantity of items, she said.
Of the estimated 300,000 (three hundred thousand) Nepalese in the UAE, many of them are from the earthquake hit Kathmandu and surrounding districts in Nepal, according to Dhananjay Jha, the Nepalese Ambassador to the UAE. Most of them are low-paid workers in construction, hospitality and security services sectors. Many of them have lost their houses in the devastating earthquake.
