Monitoring Desk
LONDON: An appeal in the United Kingdom (UK) to raise money for victims of the earthquake that struck Syria and Turkiye this week has received over £33 million ($39.9 million) in less than 24 hours.
The aid appeal, launched by the Disasters Emergency Committee, was broadcast across all major television channels in the UK and received significant support and donations from the government, King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla, and the princess and prince of Wales, who said they were “horrified” by the “harrowing images” from the disaster-hit zone.
The general public contributed a little more than £27.9 million during the aid appeal’s first day, with the UK government pledging a further £5 million and the Scottish government committing £500,000.
Development Minister Andrew Mitchell declared the response from the public to the calamity “extraordinary.”
So far, at least 21,000 people are reported to have died in the worst disaster, with the toll likely to increase as hopes for survivors still trapped in debris fade and tens of thousands of wounded and homeless enduring freezing temperatures with limited shelter, food, medicals, and clean water supplies.
UK relief operation in quake-hit Turkiye and Syria
A military transport aircraft left the UK for Turkiye on Thursday carrying emergency relief supplies, and the government also intends to dispatch a field hospital to the area.
The DEC appeal will see funds distributed to 14 British charities operating on the ground in the affected region, including the British Red Cross, ActionAid, and Oxfam. It estimates that at least 17 million people in Syria and Turkiye need aid.
The Turkish government has said that nearly 380,000 people are sheltering in hotels or official refuges.
DEC CEO Saleh Saaed told the BBC: “The stories we are now hearing from the quake survivors who have managed to escape the ruins of flattened buildings without coats and shoes in the depths of winter are desperately sad.”
