LONDON
A massive UK fundraising drive launched by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has raised a remarkable total of £52.8 million ($63.7 million) in just two days.
“We’re incredibly grateful to the British public for their hugely generous response to this horrific disaster. It’s impossible not to see the images on TV and hear the stories coming from Türkiye and Syria and not be moved,” DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said in a statement on Saturday.
“What people in both countries need today may not be what they need tomorrow and giving cash means that DEC charities can get help to people quickly and provide a wide range of support over a longer period of time,” he added.
The DEC immediately launched the campaign Wednesday to help hundreds of thousands of people affected by the powerful earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria on Monday.
It brought together 15 major UK aid charities, including the British Red Cross, Oxfam and ActionAid to raise funds that will cover medical aid, emergency shelter, food, and clean water.
Meanwhile, Britain dispatched another rescue mission Saturday to Türkiye that will join search and relief efforts in the wake of two powerful earthquakes.
“An Emergency Medical Team of 11, funded by the UK government left Brize Norton (in Oxfordshire) for Turkey this afternoon,” the British Foreign Office wrote on Twitter.
In Türkiye, at least 24,617 people were killed and more than 80,000 others injured after the twin earthquakes hit the southern region on Monday, according to official figures.
The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, have affected over 13 million people across 10 provinces, including Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Adiyaman, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.
In neighboring Syria, the death toll has climbed above 3,500 with more than 5,200 people wounded.
