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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The second phase of a refugee camp established by the UAE in Jordan was opened on Monday, increasing its capacity to 10,000 people.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region and Chairman of the UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA), presided over the opening ceremony in Mrajeeb Al Fhood, Jordan, which now spans 25,000 square metres.

“The situation of Syrian refugees in Jordan is difficult and we need to act swiftly to provide decent living conditions to them, especially to the women and children,” said Sheikh Hamdan, who is also chairman of the UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA).

The camp, which currently houses more than 4,000 refugees – two thirds of whom are children - and is staffed by 100 UAE volunteers, was set up by the RCA in April last year to house those fleeing Syria’s civil war.

Facilities include a field hospital that caters for 800 patients a day, a school serving 1,500 primary and secondary students with 117 teachers, and a medical centre that has helped 90,000 patients since opening in April this year.

Sheikh Hamdan, who was accompanied by Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of International Cooperation and Development, said the camp symbolises the strong cooperation between the UAE and Jordan as well as the UAE’s policy of providing humanitarian and health care assistance to needy people.

Donations to humanitarian causes resulting from the Syrian conflict now top the UAE’s foreign aid agenda with internally displaced Syrians and those who have fled the country because of the civil war benefiting from more than Dh502 million in aid over the last 5 years.

The UAE has markedly increased its foreign aid in recent years with the country becoming the leading donor to charitable causes around the world in terms of foreign aid as a percentage of its gross national income, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

*The National