The Emirates Red Crescent, ERC, keeps pace with international humanitarian developments, thanks to the qualitative initiatives of the leadership, donors and philanthropists whose backing has been fruitful in terms of assistance to disadvantaged categories locally and abroad, an ERC top official has said. 

H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler's Representative in the Western Region, President of the Emirates Red Crescent, said, "The ERC's excellence in philanthropy areas will continue to motivate all of us to make more efforts to serve humanity and achieve aspirations for living in dignity." 

He called for the adoption of further initiatives that promote the role of the authority in the local arena to meet the needs of underprivileged families, people with special needs, and employees with low income. 

Sheikh Hamdan made the remarks during the second ERC Board of Directors' meeting, held on Saturday evening at Al Nakheel Palace. 

He conveyed to the board members the appreciation of the leadership of the role of the ERC in terms of its humanitarian achievements. The board members discussed a number of issues, with the emphasis on enhancing the role of the ERC and reinforcement of its humanitarian work mechanisms. 

The board also reviewed the report of Dr. Mohammed Ateeq Al Falahi, Secretary-General of the ERC, on humanitarian, development and relief programmes in Comoros, Palestine and Yemen. 

Al Falahi said that an ERC delegation had recently visited Comoros and discussed with officials there the implementation of development projects in areas of health, education and housing. The delegation signed a cooperation agreement with Comoros Red Crescent Society to strengthen their partnership and coordination between the two parties. 

The report also covered the ERC delegation visit to East Jerusalem where it opened the Shafat Health Centre after renovation in cooperation with UNRWA. The centre will serve 65,000 Palestinians. The delegation visited the Gaza Strip, where the first phase of construction of four schools to take in 4,000 students was launched. The ERC delegation also assessed the reconstruction of residences damaged due to continuous aggression. 

The board reviewed the report on the ERC efforts in Yemen and its coordination with partners there. The two sides coordinated to deliver 607 residences at a cost AED110 million in Sheikh Zayed City to those affected by the floods in Hadramawt. The last batch of 204 residences will be delivered to those affected in Al Mukala. 

Source: WAM