The MWL sent a team from its subsidiary, the International Association for Relief, Care and Development (IARCD) IARCD was directed to conduct an urgent field assessment in Lombok to meet the needs of those affected by the earthquake JEDDAH: The Muslim World League (MWL) dispatched a team on Wednesday to the Indonesian island of Lombok, which was struck by a powerful earthquake, resulting in heavy losses and destroying thousands of buildings. The MWL sent a team from its subsidiary, the International Association for Relief, Care and Development (IARCD). Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, secretary-general of the MWL, directed IARCD to conduct an urgent field assessment in Lombok to meet the needs of those affected by the earthquake. Al-Issa stressed that MWL’s emergency humanitarian response plans relied on speed in reaching a disaster or crisis. He said that many states and organizations recognized that MWL was one of the first to arrive at disasters, fulfilling its humanitarian duty toward those affected as well as its global mission to assist, without discrimination, those in need around the world. The secretary-general of IARCD, Abdul Aziz Sarhan, confirmed that a field team was dispatched to the disaster area. “The field team is currently identifying the immediate needs of those affected by the earthquake, while the IARCD’s teams work through its different departments to provide necessary assistance according to a coherent priorities plan,” he said. Sarhan said: “The disaster was sudden and violent with a devastating impact on houses and properties,” he said. “Most of those whose houses were destroyed have taken refuge in tents or shacks near their destroyed homes or in shelters, whereas the wounded are being tended in field hospitals.” He said that the roads blocked by the earthquake were a major obstacle to aid delivery. He said that the association ensured speed and accuracy in implementing care programs and short- and long-term humanitarian projects that served the needy and people affected by disasters. Sarhan said that IARCD adopted fast-response plans to alleviate the suffering of displaced people and refugees around the world, giving special attention to vulnerable groups such as women and children. Sudanese orphans The MWL delivered fiscal appropriations earmarked for Sudanese orphans, through the World Relief, Welfare and Development Authority, in the presence of Musa Mohammed Ahmed, assistant to the Sudanese president, Ali bin Hassan Jafar, the Saudi Ambassador to Sudan, and various Sudanese senior officials. Ahmed expressed gratitude to King Salman and the crown prince for taking care of Sudanese orphans, underlining that the Kingdom is the warm incubator and compassionate mother of orphans everywhere. He sent thanks from the Sudanese president to the MWL and the relief authority, for their gracious role in giving a hand to the needy orphans. Ahmed also thanked the Saudi ambassador to Sudan for his role in cementing bilateral relations between the two countries, in all domains. The Saudi envoy hailed the MWL and related agencies’ endeavors to provide more than 17,000 orphans and 8,000 orphans’ families with continuous aid throughout different regions of Sudan.