Saudi Arabia’s KSrelief raises millions with earthquake appeal for Turkey and Syria

 The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) has launched a fundraising campaign to help earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.

KSrelief announced on Wednesday that the relief centre launched the campaign through the “Sahem” platform. As of Thursday morning, many donors had contributed approximately SR80 million to help those affected by the massive earthquake in Syria and Turkey.

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, KSrelief’s supervisor general, lauded the efforts of Saudi Arabia in helping Turkey and Syria. He revealed that Saudi Arabia already sent over SR13 million in relief aid to these countries before KSrelief announced its official fundraiser.

On Thursday morning, Saudi teams went to Turkey to take part in relief efforts. Specialists from the relief centre departed King Khalid airport in Riyadh to join the international mission to provide assistance to Turkey. 

Saudi Red Crescent’s vice president for operational affairs Fahad Al-Hajjaj reiterated Saudi’s efforts to help people affected by the earthquake. 

Meanwhile, the death toll due to the destructive earthquake has crossed 15,000. Turkey’s overall death toll stood at 12,391, while Syria’s overall death toll stood at 2,992. 

According to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD), many people have also been injured due to the deadly earthquake. Many people have been impacted in Kahramanmaras, Gaziantep, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir and Kilis.

The massive 7.8-magnitude quake hit Turkey's southern province of Kahramanmaras on Monday while people were still sleeping. Subsequently, a 6.4-magnitude temblor was felt a few minutes later in the Gaziantep province.

Many countries and international organisations have pledged to help earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey. The EU (European Union) said it would send around 3.5 million euros in relief aid to Syria in order to help people impacted by the earthquake.