Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Aziz Alghadeer, Regional Director of King Abdullah’s Relief Program Dr. Khaled Al-Omani and other senior officials were present at the airport to receive the 23-member team.
Speaking to reporters, Alghadeer said the Saudi team included government employees, teachers and students, adding that they would participate in distributing relief supplies.
King Abdullah has ordered the distribution of 1,000 truckloads of relief supplies, including foodstuffs, among the country’s flood-hit areas. He also ordered the setting up of two field hospitals and a refugee camp in Thatta.
During the two-month-long relief program, foodstuffs such as rice, flour, cooking oil and milk, beans and lentils will be distributed among the flood victims.
The Saudi refugee camp shelters 500 families. “We’ll supply food to these families through the emergency relief program,” Alghadeer said.
King Abdullah earlier ordered a nationwide fund-raiser that collected more than SR400 million for the floods victims in Pakistan.
Last month’s flooding is Pakistan’s worst-ever natural disaster in terms of the amount of damage and the number of people affected, with more than six million people forced from their homes. About 1,600 people lost their lives while properties worth billions of dollars were destroyed or damaged.
Meanwhile, Alghadeer commended the formation of an international foundation by King Abdullah for charitable and humanitarian activities. He said the foundation would serve as a big boost to the Kingdom’s humanitarian activities across the world.
