Middle East Online
King Mohammed VI orders emergency medical and humanitarian aid to be sent to Lebanon which has been devastated by massive explosion at Beirut’s port.
Morocco announced Thursday it was sending emergency aid to Lebanon and would deploy a field hospital in Beirut two days after the devastating explosion that killed at least 145 people dead and injured thousands in the Lebanese capital.
King Mohammed VI gave his instructions to send emergency medical and humanitarian aid, according to state news agency MAP.
The aid included first aid drugs, food products, tents and blankets for the accommodation of victims as well as medical equipment for the prevention against COVID-19.
Eight planes (four military planes and four civilian planes) will depart successively from Casablanca to Beirut, reported the Lebanese Forces’ website.
“These planes will transport 295 tonnes of basic foodstuffs, 10 tonnes of drugs and 11 tonnes of medical material and equipment exclusively for the COVID-19,” it said.
Morocco is among several countries and international organisations that have rushed to help Lebanon after the massive warehouse explosion at Beirut’s port sent a blast wave across the Lebanese capital, killing at least 145 people and injuring nearly 5,000.
UN agencies are scrambling to support victims of the devastating warehouse blast in Beirut, which has undermined an already weak health care system in Lebanon, officials said on Friday.
Damage to hospitals has removed 500 beds of capacity, a World Health Organization spokesman told a virtual United Nations briefing. Containers with thousands of personal protection equipment (PPE) items – used to prevent the spread of COVID-19 – have also been destroyed.
The annihilation of the port in Tuesday’s explosion has further strained food access for a population that relies on imports for 85 percent of what it eats.
Some 15,000 tonnes of wheat, corn and barley were blasted out of the towering 55-year-old silos and a nearby mill was destroyed.
