Khalifa Foundation sends aid to flooded-ravaged nation

The Khalifa Foundation has begun giving aid to the Comoros Islands.

Torrents of rain have battered the islands off the south-east coast of Africa for a month, causing the worst flooding in decades and leading the government to declare a state of emergency.

Mohammed Haji Al Khouri, the director of the Khalifa Foundation, said aid had been distributed to tens of thousands of people.

Urgent relief was provided in the form of infrastructure projects in flooded areas.

Abdullah Matar Al Mazroui, the UAE Ambassador to Yemen and non-resident ambassador to the Republic of the Comoros, said the foundation's aid projects were in response to a distress call made by the Comoros government.

Local residents are in desperate need of shelter and a restoration of water supplies. Large areas of still water are also causing great concern as potential breeding sites for mosquitoes. Electricity supplies and telephone lines have been badly damaged.

Nearly 50,000 people have been affected and 9,000 forced to leave their homes, with the rains expected to continue.

tsubaihi@thenational.ae