Balkans | European countries collected millions of euros in aid to Turkey because of the earthquake

After the earthquakes that hit Kahramanmaraş, many European countries collected millions of euros in cash aid to Turkey.

After the earthquakes that hit Kahramanmaraş, many European countries collected millions of euros in cash aid to Turkey.

The EU Commission said in a statement on March 1 that the EU has so far sent humanitarian aid to the earthquake zone in Turkey exceeding 8 million euros, and that efforts are underway to allocate additional funding.

Several EU countries have also organized various campaigns to collect cash assistance.

The German government has sent disaster relief and humanitarian aid worth 108 million euros to those affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria until February 21. Of this number, 41 million euros were sent to Turkey, while 8 million euros were allocated to in-kind aid only.

Aid from the British government, which provided 5 million 650 thousand euros in support to the aid campaign launched by the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC), formed by 15 NGOs in England, amounted to 48 million 591 thousand euros in total. With the addition of the campaigns carried out by the DEC throughout the country, the amount of aid from England to Turkey and Syria amounted to 141 million 253 thousand euros. The Scottish regional government has announced that it will provide €565,000 to the committee’s aid campaign in Scotland. On the other hand, the Republic of Ireland pledged 2 million 260 thousand euros to support the earthquake victims through the Red Cross.

While more than 8 thousand municipalities in Spain have provided financial aid in different amounts from 1,000 euros to 80,000 euros with the decisions they have made in their councils, some independent administrations have decided on monetary assistance. The Spanish BBVA Bank, the controlling shareholder of Garanti BBVA in Turkey, has become the largest donor institution with a value of 32 million euros. In addition, textile giants and supermarket chains donated a total of 3 million 450 thousand euros. He announced that the assistance was provided through the Red Crescent and the Disaster and Emergency Management, as well as the Red Cross, Caritas or other NGOs in Spain. On the other hand, many football clubs and La Liga institutions, including Barcelona and Real Madrid, have launched campaigns to help the earthquake victims.

Italy also provided financial assistance to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to support the emergency activities of the Turkish Red Crescent. He announced that one million euros have been allocated out of a total of one million and 750 thousand euros in aid for the Turkish Red Crescent, and 750 thousand euros for the Syrian Red Crescent.

Aid campaigns continue in the Netherlands

Aid campaigns are still going on in the Netherlands. It is learned that more than €152 million in aid has been collected so far in these campaigns. To date, 108 million 501 thousand 189 euros have been donated to the relief organization called “Giro555”, organized jointly by 11 aid organizations including the Dutch Red Cross and UNICEF. More than €13 million in aid has been collected in campaigns launched by Turkish NGOs and aid organizations in the country. While the Dutch government donated €20 million, donations from local governments exceeded €11 million. All donations made by local governments and 10 million euros in government aid were sent through “Giro555”.

The total amount of aid that can be determined by NGOs and businessmen in Romania is about 1 million 213 thousand euros.

The amount of donations made by citizens and businessmen to the cash aid open account to AFAD in Bulgaria is close to €1 million.

Campaigns also continue in Poland. As of February 27, 149 thousand 446 euros have been collected under the coordination of the Turkish Embassy in Warsaw. The Polish NGO called PAH raised 640 thousand 485 euros.

Estonia sent a total of €400,000 in cash and in-kind aid, while Latvia sent €70,000 in cash aid.

Hygienic products worth €328,000 were delivered by the Lithuanian Ministry of Health. The government promised cash support of 200,000 euros.

Finland has allocated a total of one million euros in cash aid to Turkey and Syria.

In the account opened by the Turkish Embassy in Hungary, 293,870 euros were collected. This amount is gradually transferred to the AFAD account. This amount includes a grant of €13,180 from the Hungarian National Assembly.

Austria announced that it will provide 3 million euros in aid to Turkey after the earthquakes. Nine states in the country have announced that they will contribute two million euros in aid. Together with the Austrian Red Cross, the Caritas charity and several Turkish NGOs, in addition to individual donations, the total amount of aid has exceeded 9.5 million euros.

In Sweden, 657 thousand euros were collected under the coordination of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, and 234 thousand euros were collected through the aid organization Hasene. It was reported that the Swedish government provided humanitarian aid to Turkey and Syria totaling €14 million.

AA