Qatar Charity provides relief aid to

Qatar Charity provides relief aid to snowstorm-hit people in Lebanon


1/10/2019 |


  • Nearly 17,000 Syrian refugees, mostly children, women, the sick, the elderly and persons with disabilities, received relief aid from Qatar Charity during the past two days of the storm.
  • Qatar Charity is one of the first organizations to respond to the Syrian refugees’ appeal for help in Arsal.
  • The situation in Arsal is harsh and requires urgent action to salvage the quickly deteriorating condition there.

Qatar Charity (QC) provided Emergency Relief aid to thousands of Syrian Refugees in the Arsal camp, who are affected by the Storm Norma that wrecks their camp these days in Lebanon, benefiting 17,000 affected people during the past two days of the storm.

The relief team managed to reach the camp, despite difficulties due to the accumulated snow, heavy rain and violent winds and distributed assistance as part of QC’s winter campaign entitled “Below Zero”.

Syrian refugees in Arsal, a town and municipality situated in eastern Lebanon, are badly affected by the snowstorm, which has increased their suffering in light of a severe shortage of basic life necessities, especially heating materials.

Qatar Charity managed to intervene quickly to provide relief aid to the affected persons in order to help them survive the blizzard, as the state of emergency has been declared.

The charity has allocated a budget to support those affected by the snowstorm within the framework of the “Below Zero” campaign. This makes Qatar Charity one of the first humanitarian agencies to respond to this humanitarian duty.

The number of beneficiaries during the first two days of the storm reached about 17,000 Syrian refugees, mostly children, women, the sick, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

The relief aid included heating fuel, blankets, winter clothes and other items to protect the tents from rain and wind, in addition to the distribution of food aid to the affected families, in coordination with the Union of Relief and Development Associations (URDA) in Lebanon.

Qatar Charity extended sincere thanks to all of those, who donated to its winter campaign entitled “Below Zero”, urging benefactors to make more contributions to support the affected people, as they are living under the harsh weather conditions these days, suffering from freezing cold waves, heavy rain, snows and frost.

Jihan al-Qaisi, relief intervention coordinator, said, “Qatar Charity is one of the first organizations to respond to the Syrian refugees’ appeal for help in Arsal. The charity provided urgent relief aid to families threatened with death due to blizzard.”

Al-Qaisi emphasized that although Qatar Charity has contributed to helping thousands of families, the situation still requires the concerted efforts of all for the relief of refugees. The programme coordinator described the situation in Arsal as harsh, which requires urgent action to salvage the quickly deteriorating condition there.

Qatar Charity urges people in Qatar to continue supporting its ‘Below Zero’ campaign in order to reach out to the largest number of displaced people, refugees and those in need.

The donation in favor of the campaign can be made through QC’s website (QCH.QA/B0) and application. The donors can also request a ‘home collector’ through QC’s app (QCH.QA/APP) or dial the charity’s hotline, 44667711, to make their contributions. 

Mobile donations can also be made. To send QR50, QR100 and QR500, one can send an SMS with code (B0) to 92632, 92642, and 92428, respectively.

 Donations to the ‘Below Zero’ campaign can also be made at QC’s headquarters or through its branches within the country and collection points in commercial complexes.

It is worth mentioning that since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, Qatar Charity has been Supporting Syrian Refugees in Lebanon by implementing many relief, shelter, health, development, and education projects.

Qatar Charity has carried out many relief projects for internally displaced persons (IPDs) and refugees in 2018 at a cost of more than QR85mn, benefiting about 4 million people in various fields.