UAE Sets Global Standard in Disaster Response with Innovative, Life-Saving Missions
The United Arab Emirates has emerged as one of the world's most agile and impactful responders to humanitarian crises, leveraging innovation, preparedness, and global partnerships to deliver critical aid where it's needed most.
From the earthquake-ravaged cities of Myanmar, Syria, and Türkiye to the cyclone-hit regions of Libya and the war-torn Gaza Strip, UAE search and rescue teams have led with efficiency and compassion—often arriving among the first on the ground.
In Myanmar, following the March 31 earthquake, a UAE team composed of Abu Dhabi Civil Defence, National Guard, and Joint Operations Command personnel launched immediate operations across six affected sites, using a rotating shift system to speed up rescues.
Brigadier Salem Al Dhaheri, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Civil Defence, underscored the UAE's commitment to innovation-driven response strategies, citing the use of advanced field assessments, rapid deployment protocols, and strong institutional collaborations.
Operation Chivalrous Knight 2, launched in February 2023, exemplifies this approach. Supporting earthquake victims in Syria and Türkiye, the mission saved lives, treated over 13,000 people, and delivered more than 15,000 tonnes of aid via 260 airlifts and four cargo ships.
In Derna, Libya, after Cyclone Daniel struck in September 2023, UAE teams deployed drones, K9 units, and jet skis—recovering hundreds of victims amid widespread destruction.
The UAE's longest-running relief effort, Operation Chivalrous Knight 3, continues to support Gaza, delivering over 65,000 tonnes of aid valued at $1.2 billion. The 'Birds of Goodness' airdrop initiative, using GPS-guided containers, has revolutionised aid delivery to hard-to-reach areas.
These missions reflect the UAE's evolving role as a global humanitarian leader—one defined not just by rapid response, but by strategic foresight, cutting-edge tools, and an unshakable commitment to human dignity.
News Source: Emirates News Agency
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
6 days ago
- Gulf Today
Sen. Alex Padilla's crime? Being Mexican in MAGA America
Gustavo Arellano, Tribune News Service When US Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, it was almost as if President Donald Trump's most well-worn talking point came to life: A bad hombre tried to go after a white American. All Padilla did was identify himself and try to question Noem about the immigration raids across Southern California that have led to protests and terror. Instead, federal agents pushed the senator into a hallway, forced him to the ground and handcuffed him before he was released. He and Noem talked privately afterward, yet she claimed to reporters that Padilla "lung(ed)" at her despite them being far apart and video showing no evidence to back up her laughable assertion. (The claim was in keeping with Noem's pronouncements this week. On Tuesday, she accused Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum of encouraging violent protests in L.A. when the president actually called for calm.) The manhandling of Padilla on Thursday and his subsequent depiction by conservatives as a modern-day Pancho Villa isn't surprising one bit. Trashing people of Mexican heritage has been one of Trump's most successful electoral planks — don't forget that he kicked off his 2016 presidential campaigns by proclaiming Mexican immigrants to be "bad" and smugglers — because he knows it works. You could be a newcomer from Jalisco, you could be someone whose ancestors put down roots before the Mayflower, it doesn't matter: For centuries, the default stance in this country is to look at anyone with family ties to our neighbour to the south with skepticism, if not outright hate. It was the driving force behind the Mexican-American War and subsequent robbing of land from the Mexicans who decided to stay in the conquered territory. It was the basis for the legal segregation of Mexicans across the American Southwest in the first half of the 20th century and continues to fuel stereotypes of oversexed women and criminal men that still live on mainstream and social media. These anti-Mexican sentiments are why California voters passed a slew of xenophobic local and state measures in the 1980s and 1990s when the state's demographics began to dramatically change. Conservative politicians and pundits alike claimed Mexico was trying to reclaim the American Southwest and called the conspiracy the "Reconquista," after the centuries-long push by Spaniards to take back the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors during the Middle Ages. The echoes of that era continue to reverberate in MAGAland. It's why Trump went on social media to describe L.A. as a city besieged by a "Migrant Invasion" when people began to rally against all the immigration raids that kicked off last week and led to his draconian deployment of the National Guard and Marines to L.A. as if we were Fallouja in the Iraq war. It's what led the White House's Instagram account on Wednesday to share the image of a stern-looking Uncle Sam putting up a poster stating "Help your country ... and yourself" above the slogan "Report All Foreign Invaders" and a telephone number for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It's what led US Atty. Bill Essayli to post a photo on his official social media account of SEIU California President David Huerta roughed up and in handcuffs after he was arrested for allegedly blocking the path of ICE agents trying to serve a search warrant on a factory in the Garment District. It's why Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called in the National Guard before planned protests in San Antonio, one of the cradles of Latino political power in the United States and the home of the Alamo. It's why there are reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to rename a naval ship honoring Chicano legend Cesar Chavez and has announced that the only U.S. military base named after a Latino, Ft. Cavazos in Texas, will drop its name. And it's what's driving all the rabid responses to activists waving the Mexican flag. Vice President JD Vance described protesters as "insurrectionists carrying foreign flags" on social media. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — Trump's longtime anti-immigrant Iago — described L.A. as "occupied territory." The president slimed protesters as "animals" and "foreign enemies." In an address to Army soldiers prescreened for looks and loyalty at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina this week, he vowed, "The only flag that will wave triumphant over the city of Los Angeles is the American flag." The undue obsession with a piece of red, green and white cloth betrays this deep-rooted fear by Americans that we Mexicans are fundamentally invaders. And to some, that idea sure seems to be true. Latinos are now the largest minority group in the U.S., a plurality in California and nearly a majority in L.A. and L.A. County — and Mexicans make up the largest segment of all those populations by far. The truth of this demographic Reconquista, as I've been writing for a quarter of a century, is far more mundane. The so-called invading force of my generation assimilated to the point where our kids are named Brandon and Ashley in all sorts of spellings. The young adults and teenagers on the street wrapping themselves in the Mexican flag right now are chanting against ICE in English and blasting Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us." More than a few of the National Guard troops, police officers and Homeland Security officers those young Latino activists were heckling have Latino surnames on their uniforms, when they show any identification at all. Hell, enough Mexican Americans voted for Trump that they arguably swung the election to him.
Khaleej Times
20-06-2025
- Khaleej Times
US appeals court rules in favour of Trump, grants him control over National Guard in LA
A US appeals court on Thursday ruled that President Donald Trump could continue control of National Guard troops in Los Angeles, over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom. In a unanimous 38-page ruling, the three-judge panel said Trump's "failure to issue the federalisation order directly 'through' the Governor of California does not limit his otherwise lawful authority to call up the National Guard." Trump was within his rights when he ordered 4,000 members of the National Guard into service for 60 days to "protect federal personnel performing federal functions and to protect federal property," the judges wrote. In a post to Truth Social Thursday night, Trump celebrated the decision calling it a "BIG WIN." Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. "All over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done," Trump wrote. Last week, a lower court judge had ordered Trump to return control of the California National Guard to Newsom, saying the president's decision to deploy them to protest-hit Los Angeles was "illegal." Newsom hailed the earlier decision saying Trump "is not a monarch, he is not a king, and he should stop acting like one." Trump, who has repeatedly exaggerated the scale of the unrest, also sent 700 US Marines to Los Angeles despite the objections of local officials, claiming that they had lost control of the "burning" city. It was the first time since 1965 that a US president deployed the National Guard over the wishes of a state governor. Trump appointed two of the judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit panel, and former president Joe Biden appointed the third, the New York Times reported Thursday.
Dubai Eye
19-06-2025
- Dubai Eye
Ukraine and Russia exchange POWs in latest swap
Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war on Thursday, officials from both countries said, the latest round of swaps under an agreement struck in Istanbul. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted images of the freed Ukrainian troops, smiling and draped in the national flag, most of whom had been held captive since the early months of Russia's February 2022 invasion, he said. Our people are returning home from Russian captivity. These are warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service. Most of them had been held captive since 2022. They are defenders of Ukraine who fought in the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk,… — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 19, 2025 The Ukrainian POWs exchanged on Thursday were sick or injured, according to Kyiv's coordinating council for POWs. The Russian POWs would also be sent for treatment and rehabilitation, Moscow's defence ministry said. Neither Ukraine nor Russia, whose talks on ending the war have yielded few results besides the exchange of prisoners or remains, provided an exact figure of how many POWs had been exchanged.
