A delegation from the UAE's Red Crescent Society arrived in Algiers on Wednesday on a flight carrying 40 tons of relief supplies to the Algerian people affected by devastating storms and floods on Sunday, which killed and wounded hundreds.
The delegation was led by Hamdan Al Mazroui from the RCS to oversee the distribution of the first planeload of relief supplies, said the Emirates’ official news agency (WAM).
The 40-ton shipment of food and blankets is the first part of an air bridge of relief aid to Algeria ordered by President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Red Crescent officials earlier urged UAE citizens and foreign residents to make personal donations to help the Algerian people affected by the storms, WAM said.
Meanwhile, Algerian Ambassador to the UAE Abdul Hamid Bouzahir, in a meeting at RCS headquarters with Saleh Mohammed Al Mualla, deputy secretary general for foreign affairs, praised President Sheikh Zayed's initiative to provide urgent assistance to the flood victims and thanked the UAE for its humanitarian gesture.
Algeria has declared three days of national mourning that started Tuesday for the victims of the worst flooding ever.
Algeria's worst natural disaster since winning independence from France in 1962 was in 1981, when an earthquake killed about 1,500 people – Albawaba.com
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