Celebs React to Devastating Turkey Earthquake, Twitch Streamer raises $1 Million for Relief
Celebrities including F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, EGOT winner Viola Davis and many more reacted to devastating earthquake that happened in Southeast Turkey on Feb 6, 2023.
(edit: William & Kate of the British Royal Family also supported a campaign in the UK that aims to provide relief to the region. More celebs added.)
Twin earthquakes happened in the same region within ~8 hours of each other, 7.8 and 7.6 magnitudes. Both Syria and Turkey is affected. As of now, more than 20.000 people have died in both countries total.
Hopes faded on Thursday of finding more survivors after the earthquake that killed nearly 20,000 people in Turkey and Syria, as the first UN aid reached Syrian rebel-held zones ▶️ https://t.co/undWP6trJj pic.twitter.com/ydxYS4phGo
- AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 9, 2023
Lewis Hamilton:
Jennifer Lopez:
Viola Davis:
https://instagram.com/p/CoU7T6hAT5n
Mark Ruffalo:
These are the folks doing search and rescue in Turkey if you want to lend a hand. https://t.co/vDhBfuHBnZ
- Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) February 6, 2023
Antonio Banderas:
https://instagram.com/p/CoUxMSssImI
Kerry Washington:
William & Kate
We have been horrified to see the harrowing images coming out of Turkey and Syria in the aftermath of the earthquakes this week. Our thoughts are with the communities affected and we are pleased to support the @decappeal campaign which will aid the response on the ground. W & C https://t.co/Vrd2m7UcPW
- The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) February 9, 2023
Selena Gomez:
Meanwhile twitch streamer Hasan Piker have raised $1 Million for charities & NGOs doing streams and running a charity event:
Hasan Piker's community has officially raised $1,000,000 after 3 days for relief efforts after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey and Syria. He's personally donated $45,000.
To contribute: https://t.co/usrEuzyVwF pic.twitter.com/RAZtLqH43p
- ostonox (@ostonox) February 8, 2023
If you, too, want to support the relief efforts going on in Turkey monetarily, please do so via Ahbap. Here is their link that you can support from anywhere in the world. Please keep in mind $1 USD = 19 TL so, a cup of coffee for you is a lot for Turkish efforts.
Also Turkish Embassies are collecting items to be sent to the disaster area, but they request unused (first hand) items.
For Syria I am not aware of which charities/NGOs support their efforts, so please let me know and I'll edit the post.
Here’s a comprehensive list that includes Syria. My thanks to Carminaburana.
Here's how the current situation in Turkey goes:
Many countries offered their support and rescue teams and they are working quite well, we are so very thankful. Most big companies also offered their help, many in Turkey sent trucks with most immediate items
Turkish Government handles this... well... Government-run disaster relief agency AFAD is horrendously insufficient. We had people literally tweeting from under the rubbles stating they're alive, and people use twitter mainly to coordinate rescue teams and efforts. Power tools or construction machines (excavators, cranes etc) are found over twitter. People organise manpower for items that are collected for the disaster area so that they can be sorted and sent to the places that are in need.
Turkish Government's response to this was to throttle twitter, state for a fact that all help has to be coordinated through AFAD and they won't let anything else, how people donate to any other NGO than AFAD are provocateurs, how people call government response to the disaster insufficient lack honour and good morals etc etc. You get the gist.
Oguzhan Ugur of BabalaTV, a Youtube channel which help in sorting out the calls for help on Twitter, yesterday announced by the throttling of twitter, their capability of reaching to the people went down by 70%.
Ahbap, the most competent NGO we currently have in that area, is a NGO run by a former Turkish Anatolian rockstar. Turkish celebrities & streamers, instagram influencers work with them daily to collect donations in forms of containers, tents, energy tools, food, clothing.
Even at 80th-90th hour after the earthquakes, some people are saved alive under rubble. Now the biggest problem for survivors is the freezing cold and lack of items that will support them. Since the first earthquake happened at 04:15 local time, almost all the people who escaped were in their pyjamas and nothing more in minus degrees outside. People have collected quite a lot of items (food, blankets etc) but it's hard to bring those to the victims.
Please keep the victims in your thoughts and prayers.
sorry about the formatting mods, the new editing tool kills me. i can edit if needed.
sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6