Live broadcast aid campaign collects over $5 billion for Turkish quake victims

A new fundraising drive for earthquake victims in Türkiye raised almost 100 billion Turkish liras ($5.3 billion) within two hours of the campaign’s start on February 15.

Companies, institutions, organisations, and individuals made donations to the campaign, named "Türkiye, One Heart", via a joint live broadcast through 200 television and 500 radio channels, per The Middle East Eye.

Popular TV stars from different channels urged the public to make donations to the Turkish disaster management agency AFAD and the Turkish Red Crescent.

As of 9:15 pm local time, the Turkish Central Bank made the highest donation worth 30 billion Turkish liras ($1.6 billion), followed by the state-run lenders Ziraat with 20 billion liras ($1 billion); Vakif with 12 billion liras ($637 million); and Halk with seven billion liras ($371.3 million).

The country's GSM operators Turkcell and Turk Telekom donated 3.5 billion liras ($185.6 million) and two billion liras ($106 million), respectively.

Turkish conglomerates Cengiz Holding and Kalyoncular Holding donated 2.5 billion Turkish liras ($132.6 million) and 950 million liras ($50.4 million), respectively.

Türkiye’s Saving Deposit Insurance Fund, Borsa Istanbul, and Türkiye Sigorta donated two billion liras ($106 million) each.

The country's aviation firm Baykar and flag carrier Turkish Airlines donated two billion liras ($106 million) each.

The campaign, which is still ongoing, started at 8 pm local time and aimed to bring leading culture, art, business, and sports figures to support the earthquake victims.

Over 35,400 people were killed and 105,500 injured by two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on 6 February, according to the latest official figures.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.5 tremors affected 13 million people in Türkiye across 10 provinces.

In neighbouring Syria, at least 3,688 people were killed and over 14,749 injured.