Ongoing Saudi donations exceed $51m for quake victims in Turkiye, Syria

Rescuers participate in search and rescue operations after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkiye including Hatay, Turkiye [ Eren Bozkurt – Anadolu Agency ]

More than 500,000 people have participated in a popular donation campaign in Saudi Arabia for the relief of Turkiye and Syria, with a total of more than 192 million riyals ($51.2 million), Anadolu News Agency reports.

More than 569,000 people have donated, so far, according to data released by the Saudi government’s Sahem Platform, which is responsible for the popular campaign for relief of earthquake victims in Syria and Turkiye.

The campaign was launched on Wednesday by the King Salman Relief Centre and donations, so far, exceeded 192 million Saudi riyals (some $51.2 million).

On Tuesday, King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, directed the Centre to operate an air bridge and organise a popular campaign through the Sahem Platform, to support Turkiye and Syria in the earthquakes crisis.

READ: Egypt Sisi seeks to tamp down media clash with Saudi Arabia

The frequent update of the campaign platform shows a remarkable increase in the number of participants and the value of donations, since its launch, according to Anadolu.

Sixteen Arab countries officially announced the establishment of air bridges and the provision of urgent relief and medical aid to support Turkiye, according to official statements.

The countries are Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Jordan, Bahrain, Libya, Tunisia, Palestine, Iraq, Mauritania, Sudan and Oman.

Over 18,300 people were killed and more than 74,200 injured by two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Turkiye on Monday, according to the latest official figures.

The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, centred in the Kahramanmaras province, were felt by 13 million people across 10 provinces in Turkiye, and also affected several countries in the region, including Syria.

More than 3,300 people in Syria have died from the earthquakes, according to figures compiled by the Health Ministry and the Syrian White Helmets civil defence group.

READ: ‘Impact area of earthquakes in Turkiye is twice total area of Lebanon’: Geologist

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.