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Dubai celebrates Saudi national day with concert, fireworks and family fun events

UAE’s Dubai is set to celebrate Saudi Arabia’s 88th National Day on Sunday with a grandiose set of events sprawling across the emirate. (File/AFP)
Updated 20 September 2018
Arab News
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Dubai celebrates Saudi national day with concert, fireworks and family fun events

  • Visitors from Saudi Arabia will be welcomed with sweets, flowers and coffee upon arrival at the Dubai International Airport
  • Residents and visitors will be able to attend events and entertainment including a concert by regional stars and a firework show
Updated 20 September 2018
Arab News

DUBAI: UAE’s Dubai is set to celebrate Saudi Arabia’s 88th National Day on Sunday with a grandiose set of events sprawling across the emirate.

Visitors from Saudi Arabia will be welcomed with sweets, flowers and coffee upon arrival at the Dubai International Airport, while residents and visitors will be able to attend events and entertainment including a concert by regional stars and a firework show.

Amusement parks, hotels, malls, and landmarks will add to the excitement of the joyous occasion with special activities and numerous promotions. The strong relations between the UAE and the KSA have never been closer, where the residents of Dubai can expect to see some of the city’s most famous landmarks, Burj Khalifa, illuminated in the national flag of Saudi Arabia.

The line-up of events and activities to celebrate the National Day of Saudi Arabia in Dubai

Concerts

22 September, City Walk

For musical fun, head to City Walk in Dubai where two of the Gulf’s most popular singers will take to the stage as part of the Saudi National Day celebrations in Dubai. Saudi singer Dalia Mubarak and Emirati star Shamma Hamdan will perform some of their most popular hits in a special concert on the evening of September 22. With both artists enjoying huge popularity in the KSA and the UAE, the concert is sure to be a big hit, so don’t miss the fun!  The concert starts at 6.45pm.

Fireworks

23  September, La Mer

The urban beachfront development La Mer will celebrate the Saudi National Day with a host of activities, including a spectacular Saudi National Day-themed fireworks show on 23 September at 8.30pm.  Traditional Saudi folk dances and a display of supercars will also take place at this location from 20 to 23 September.

Events

Traditional band: 21 to 23 September

Saudi Arabian folk dancers will also perform at malls across the city, including The Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Dragon Mall, City Center Mirdif, Dubai Festival City Mall, and Al Seef.

Dubai Fountain: 21 to 23 September

The famous Dubai Fountain will ‘dance’ to songs by popular Saudi artists from 12 to 22 September, with a special display in tribute to the Saudi national anthem taking place on 23 September.

Dubai Mall: 20 – 23 September

Dubai Mall will roll out the red carpet during the Saudi National Day celebrations, offering visitors the opportunity to watch performances by a traditional band at the Souk Atrium,  Ground Floor and also enjoy Arabic coffee. There will also be give-aways to visitors including a booklet of vouchers, scarf and mementoes.

Dubai Festival City Mall: 20 to 23 September

Dubai Festival City Mall will host a Saudi National Day show at Festival Bay and an exclusive edition of IMAGINE, its record-breaking laser and light show.

The Beach: 20- 23 September

To celebrate the joyous occasion, The Beach will host a grand parade on 22 September at 6:00pm with horses marching along to Saudi national melodies. From 20 -23 September, the destination will screen a selection of award-winning short films by Saudi directors at Roxy Cinemas daily at 7pm and 8.30pm as part of the Saudi Cinema Weekend.

Dubai International Airport celebrations: 20 September

Dubai International Airport will accord a water salute to aircraft arriving from Saudi Arabia whilst flowers, Arabic sweets and coffee will be offered to Saudi visitors arriving in Dubai. Saudi national songs will also be played in the arrivals section of Terminals 1, 2 and 3.

Hotel offers

Hotels in Dubai are adding to the excitement of the joyous occasion of the Saudi National Day, as they prepare to welcome Saudi guests with promotions and discounts on room stays, as well as a variety of activities for children.

Address Hotels and Resorts: Enjoy additional complimentary nights from 23 to 30 September

Armani Hotel – Enjoy signature Italian hospitality in the heart of Downtown Dubai, from 23 to 30 September. Reserve an Armani guestroom or residence for 2, 3 or 5 nights to enjoy discounts of 10 %, 15% and 25%.

Renaissance Downtown Hotel – Avail a special ‘Sunday Night is On Us’ offer from 19 to 24 September. To redeem this promotion, a Saturday night must be included and the length of stay of the booking is for a minimum of 3 nights.

Vida Hotels & Resorts – A special offer from 23 to 30 September allows guests to enjoy additional complimentary nights with U By Emaar members earning additional U points for every stay.

Manzil Downtown - A special offer from 23 to 30 September allows guests to enjoy additional complimentary nights with U By Emaar members earning additional U points for every stay.

Aloft City Centre Deira – From 20 to 23 September, Saudi guests can enjoy complimentary upgrade to the next room type and also avail themselves of pre-loaded Magic Planet cards and Kabsa bowls for AED 40.

Sheraton Mall of the Emirates – From 20 to 23 September, Saudi guests can enjoy complimentary upgrade to the next room type and also avail themselves of tickets for Ski Dubai and Magic Planet.

Al Habtoor City - Guests staying at the V, Habtoor Palace and Hilton hotels at Al Habtoor City will receive 50% off their bill at any of the complex’s F&B outlets and spas. The great deal also extends to the La Perle by Dragone show, with those staying at the V, Habtoor Palace or Hilton hotel able to buy tickets to the award-winning spectacle for half price.

Full details of this year’s jam-packed calendar of events over KSA National Day can be found at www.dubaicalendar.com or follow @Dubai_Calendar, and #KSANationalDay for the latest information.

Topics: Saudi Arabia Dubai UAE saudi national day 2018

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Filipinos master disaster readiness, one roll of the dice at a time

Updated 29 December 2025
AFP
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Filipinos master disaster readiness, one roll of the dice at a time

  • In a library in the Philippines, a dice rattles on the surface of a board before coming to a stop, putting one of its players straight into the path of a powerful typhoon
Updated 29 December 2025
AFP

MANILA: In a library in the Philippines, a dice rattles on the surface of a board before coming to a stop, putting one of its players straight into the path of a powerful typhoon.
The teenagers huddled around the table leap into action, shouting instructions and acting out the correct strategies for just one of the potential catastrophes laid out in the board game called Master of Disaster.
With fewer than half of Filipinos estimated to have undertaken disaster drills or to own a first-aid kit, the game aims to boost lagging preparedness in a country ranked the most disaster-prone on earth for four years running.
“(It) features disasters we’ve been experiencing in real life for the past few months and years,” 17-year-old Ansherina Agasen told AFP, noting that flooding routinely upends life in her hometown of Valenzuela, north of Manila.
Sitting in the arc of intense seismic activity called the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” the Philippines endures daily earthquakes and is hit by an average of 20 typhoons each year.
In November, back-to-back typhoons drove flooding that killed nearly 300 people in the archipelago nation, while a 6.9-magnitude quake in late September toppled buildings and killed 79 people around the city of Cebu.
“We realized that a lot of loss of lives and destruction of property could have been avoided if people knew about basic concepts related to disaster preparedness,” Francis Macatulad, one of the game’s developers, told AFP of its inception.
The Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST), where Macatulad heads business development, first dreamt up the game in 2013, after Super Typhoon Haiyan ravaged the central Philippines and left thousands dead.
Launched six years later, Master of Disaster has been updated this year to address more events exacerbated by human-driven climate change, such as landslides, drought and heatwaves.
More than 10,000 editions of the game, aimed at players as young as nine years old, have been distributed across the archipelago nation.
“The youth are very essential in creating this disaster resiliency mindset,” Macatulad said.
‘Keeps on getting worse’ 
While the Philippines has introduced disaster readiness training into its K-12 curriculum, Master of Disaster is providing a jolt of innovation, Bianca Canlas of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) told AFP.
“It’s important that it’s tactile, something that can be touched and can be seen by the eyes of the youth so they can have engagement with each other,” she said of the game.
Players roll a dice to move their pawns across the board, with each landing spot corresponding to cards containing questions or instructions to act out disaster-specific responses.
When a player is unable to fulfil a task, another can “save” them and receive a “hero token” — tallied at the end to determine a winner.
At least 27,500 deaths and economic losses of $35 billion have been attributed to extreme weather events in the past two decades, according to the 2026 Climate Risk Index.
“It just keeps on getting worse,” Canlas said, noting the lives lost in recent months.
The government is now determining if it will throw its weight behind the distribution of the game, with the sessions in Valenzuela City serving as a pilot to assess whether players find it engaging and informative.
While conceding the evidence was so far anecdotal, ASSIST’s Macatulad said he believed the game was bringing a “significant” improvement in its players’ disaster preparedness knowledge.
“Disaster is not picky. It affects from north to south. So we would like to expand this further,” Macatulad said, adding that poor communities “most vulnerable to the effects of climate change” were the priority.
“Disasters can happen to anyone,” Agasen, the teen, told AFP as the game broke up.
“As a young person, I can share the knowledge I’ve gained... with my classmates at school, with people at home, and those I’ll meet in the future.”

Topics: climate change Philippines

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