Al Rabeeah Inspects Housing Project for Earthquake Victims in Türkiye

Advisor at the Saudi Royal Court and KSrelief Supervisor General Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah during his tour of Turkish regions affected by the earthquakes. (SPA)
Advisor at the Saudi Royal Court and KSrelief Supervisor General Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah during his tour of Turkish regions affected by the earthquakes. (SPA)
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Al Rabeeah Inspects Housing Project for Earthquake Victims in Türkiye

Advisor at the Saudi Royal Court and KSrelief Supervisor General Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah during his tour of Turkish regions affected by the earthquakes. (SPA)
Advisor at the Saudi Royal Court and KSrelief Supervisor General Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah during his tour of Turkish regions affected by the earthquakes. (SPA)

Advisor at the Saudi Royal Court and King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) Supervisor General Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah conducted on Wednesday an inspection visit to the housing units delivered to earthquake victims in Türkiye.

The project includes 364 residential units located in the İslahiye area of Gaziantep province.

During the visit, beneficiaries of the project expressed profound gratitude to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for providing these residential units through humanitarian arm KSrelief.

They emphasized that these temporary housing units are of high quality, modern design, and meet essential living needs for families and individuals. They also noted that such gestures are not surprising from the government and generous people of the Kingdom.

KSrelief has supplied 3,000 housing units for earthquake victims in Syria and Türkiye, including 1,500 temporary housing units for those affected by the earthquake in the Afrin region of Syria’s Aleppo Governorate in 2023. Each temporary housing unit consists of two rooms and a bathroom equipped with basic furniture.

Other Saudi-provided facilities include a school accommodating 756 individuals, a mosque for 700 worshippers, 20 caravans for administrative and commercial activities, 15 playground areas for children, and a water well.

Solar-energy units and infrastructure works also were provided for all housing units.

About 1,500 temporary housing units were also provided for earthquake victims in the districts of İslahiye and Nurdağı in Gaziantep province, as well as in Adıyaman and Malatya provinces in Türkiye. These units also consist of two rooms and a bathroom with basic furniture, benefiting a total of 12,000 individuals.

Meanwhile, efforts are underway to provide 1,000 temporary housing units in three areas in Hatay province, expected to benefit 5,000 individuals.

These efforts come as an extension of relief projects provided by the Kingdom through its humanitarian arm, KSrelief, aimed at alleviating the suffering of those affected by the earthquakes.



Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Taiwan is investigating who is responsible for modifying the pagers that were turned into explosives in the hands of the Lebanese people, including members of Hezbollah.

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang told Asharq Al-Awsat that 260,000 pagers were exported from his country between 2022 and 2024, and 16 percent of them were sent to the United States and Europe.

He expressed his regret that the pagers were planted with explosives that were used in the attack in Lebanon last month, clarifying that the devices were not directly exported from Taiwan to Lebanon.

He explained that the components of the device are made of material that is not liable to explode.

Apollo Gold, the Taiwanese company that exported the pagers between 2022 and 2024, has never received any complaints that its devices have caused harm or exploded.

The attack in Lebanon has raised several questions and they are being probed by authorities in Taiwan, he went on to say.

One thing is for certain, the devices were not harmful in the shape they were exported from the country, stressed Chang.

Asked about whether the attack may harm Taiwan’s economy, he replied that his country’s industry sector has a strong reputation that will be difficult to undermine given the trust it has from clients.

The size of the sector and Taiwan’s investments cannot be measured by a small number of pagers, as they only make up a mere fraction in the country’s trade relations with countries all over the world, he stressed.

Separately, Chang revealed that Taiwan was considering cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the chip industry, saying he was optimistic over the broad potential for cooperation in the technology sector.

There are no limits to the cooperation between them, he added.

Taiwan constantly wants to maintain the relations and discuss opportunities for joint investments, he stated.

Taiwan was among the first countries to leap to cooperate with Saudi Arabia in all fields to help the Kingdom achieve its Vision 2030 that is spearheaded by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Chang said.