The International Humanitarian City (IHC), in coordination with the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), hosted the Sphere training on humanitarian aid in Dubai for the second time this year, between October 26 and November 2.

The week-long training included an emergency response simulation held at the IHC warehouses, with the participation of the Dubai Cooperation for Ambulance Services.  A real-life crisis scenario was created for the trainees to help prepare them for emergency operations in the field, and the exercise gave them the feeling they were in an actual emergency. The set up and equipment were provided by Emirates Red Crescent and UNRHD. Sphere certified trainers demonstrated how relief operations should be conducted to the trainees.

“This is the humanitarian response (TOT), conducted in Dubai in partnership with the IHC and we look forward to continuing this effective partnership between OCHA and the Sphere Project to provide qualified Arabic  trainers capable of raising capacities of humanitarian workers throughout the Arab world,” said Khaled Khalifa, Head of the Coordination of Partnership for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA).

IHC has been operating from Dubai since HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum,Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai established it in 2003, and has helped deliver aid in some of the worst humanitarian crises of the past decade including the 2004 tsunami in South-east Asia, the recurring drought in the Horn of Africa, civil unrest in Afghanistan and Darfur, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, 2011 unrest in North Africa, and the on-going crisis in Syria.