UAE Red Crescent to send emergency aid to flood-hit Bosnia

Abu Dhabi: The Emirates Red Crescent has decided to offer urgent relief aid to areas affected by floods in Bosnia.

Humaid Rashid Al Shamsi, Acting Deputy Secretary-General of RCA for International Aid, said that the authority will complete its preparations to implement the urgent aid relief to the affected areas.

He added that the Authority is sending emergency food and shelters to Bosnia and Herzegovina to help the victims of record floods which have swept cities and villages, leaving dozens of people dead and a hundred thousand homeless.

RCA will procure emergency aid from Bosnian local markets in order to speed up the agency’s humanitarian operation targeting the victims of flooding, which is reportedly the worst in 120 years.

Torrential rain over the past two weeks in the Balkans resulted in the devastating flooding which in Bosnia alone swept away 13,200 square kilometres of land, cut off whole communities, and destroyed water and electricity supplies, bridges and crops.

On Monday, Zlatko Lagumdzija, Bosnian Foreign Minister, told a news conference in Sarajevo that the consequences are terrifying. “The physical destruction is not less than the destruction caused by the war.”

On his part, Al Shamsi added that the authority received humanitarian calls from their Bosnian counterparts to contribute to the aid relief going on there by different humanitarian organisations, both local and international.

He pointed out that Emirates Red Crescent has directed its offices in Bosnia to respond speedily in the affected areas to alleviate the suffering of the people hit by the floods.

Operations are currently under way in coordination with the Red Cross Society of Bosnia, to confront this humanitarian disaster. The Bosnian RCS has also expressed its great appreciation for the quick and keen UAE response to minimise the impact of the disaster.