KSrelief chief pledges further aid for Syria and Turkey earthquake survivors

Dr Abdullah Al Rabeeah says religion and government do not matter when it comes to humanity

Dr Abdullah Al Rabeeah holds a briefing on Saudi aid work in Turkey and Syria. Photo: KSrelief

Before the third Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum, Dr Abdullah Al Rabeeah, supervisor general of KSrelief, told a briefing in the Saudi capital that there would be more aid for earthquake survivors in Syria and Turkey.

The forum will take place on Monday and Tuesday.

Dr Al Rabeeah shed light on the kingdom's continuing humanitarian work in Turkey and Syria.

He spoke about the main challenges and solutions, and the importance of the forum during a time of global crises.

“KSrelief’s work is based on people, not governments or religion,” he said, when asked if aid was reaching Syria given recent tension in the region.

He said KSrelief was working with Syria’s Red Crescent and with the help of Turkey they were able to provide aid to earthquake victims.

“Saudi Arabia is distributing 3,000 units of transient homes among Turkey and Syria equally,” he said, adding that more than 3,000 volunteers were helping survivors.

“If we cannot make a change on ground, we aren’t moving forward.”

He described the disaster as “large and tragic, which will take months to address”.

“We were one of the first to pass through the north of Syria as well as Turkey,” he said. “We got approval within a few hours for Syria, too, We have a trusting relationship with both countries.

"We cannot split humanitarian work with any motive. We do not differentiate between Turkey or Syria, nor any country in the world."

Dr Al Rabeeah, a Saudi paediatric surgeon, was health minister until 2015 when was made the head of humanitarian work in the kingdom for KSrelief.

To many in the Middle East, he is regarded as a hero for his expertise separating conjoined twins born in extremely difficult circumstances. He has successfully operated on several conjoined twins, most from Yemen.

KSrelief also launched an online hospital to help those affected by the earthquake and provide them with medical consultations for children, and other services in obstetrics and gynaecology, ophthalmology and psychiatry.

So far 14 planeloads of aid and medical supplies have been sent to help the earthquake survivors in Syria and Turkey.

“Initially it was chaos, as is in any disaster stricken area, but we started building in a systematic way,” Dr Al Rabeeah said.

He said KSrelief aimed to keep working to help those most affected as a priority, especially women and children, with a government budget to be announced soon, as government fund-raising continued.

More than $120 million has been raised by the national platform to date.

Citizens and residents in the kingdom have been using an online portal to donate to the cause. Muhammad Al Ahlia donated 300,000 riyals ($80,000).

Dr Al Rabeeah said work would continue to help children through support and education, as “education is always lost in disasters”.

He said humanitarian work in Ukraine has continued with donations reaching $400 million.

“We are planning to send further planes with aid, depending on the need,” Dr Al Rabeeah said.

He said the Riyadh forum would also focus on youth and innovation as ways of ensuring that gains from development aid can be sustained.

“We want to see more youth engagement and see how they can be innovative and use science to maximise humanitarian work,” Dr Al Rabeeah said.

He said KSrelief aimed to invest more in scientific research to help fill the gap between the “needs and funds”, and harness the role of AI to help in analysis and achieve sustainable development goals, as well as providing “immediate relief”.