Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation, Singapore Red Cross make donation appeal for Morocco quake victims

SINGAPORE - The Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation (RLAF) and the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) are calling for donations to support the needs of those affected by the earthquake in Morocco.

“These needs include evacuation, first aid, transporting the wounded to the hospital and psychological support, as well as assistance in relief, water sanitation and healthcare,” RLAF, a Singapore charity, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Donations can be made through various online avenues from Thursday to Sept 27.

Those who wish to donate via PayNow can key in RLAF’s UEN 200910530ZRLA and indicate “MOROCCOEARTHQUAKE” in the remarks, or SRC’s UEN S86CC0370EGEN, with “Morocco Earthquake” in the remarks.

Donors can also log in to their digital banking app and scan a QR code image under the app’s Scan and Pay function, before similarly keying in the same UEN number and remarks as above.

A bank transfer can be made to RLAF at OCBC current account number 601313315001.

Donors can also issue a cheque payable to RLAF and state on its back their name and contact number, and indicate “Morocco Earthquake 2023”. The cheque should be posted to RLAF (Yusof Ishak Mosque, 10 Woodlands Drive 17, Singapore 737740) or to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (273 Braddell Road, Singapore 579702).

Alternatively, cheque donations can also be made payable to “Singapore Red Cross Society” and posted to Singapore Red Cross (6 Fort Canning Rd, #02-01 YWCA, Singapore 179494), with details as above on the back of the cheque, and with “Morocco Earthquake” indicated.

There is also an ongoing campaign on

Giving.sg

and another on

SRC’s website

.

Those who prefer to donate physically can do so at all mosques across Singapore, where donation boxes labelled “Morocco Earthquake Appeal” will be found, from 3pm on Friday until Sept 22.

All collections will be channelled through SRC, which is working with Red Cross and Red Crescent partners on the ground, including the Moroccan Red Crescent Society and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, to deliver aid to affected communities.

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake 

struck Morocco’s Marrakech-Safi region

last Friday, the country’s largest in over a century and deadliest since 1960. More than 2,800 people have died and over 5,500 have been reported to be injured.

The World Health Organisation estimated that some 300,000 people from Marrakech and the surrounding areas have been affected, with many homes and infrastructure damaged or destroyed.

RLAF said: “These numbers are expected to increase. With much of the quake zone in hard-to-reach areas, the authorities have not issued any estimates for the number of missing. Our hearts go out to the casualties of this humanitarian emergency and their families.”

RLAF, established by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore in 2009, has collected over $12 million from the community for international humanitarian relief projects over the past 17 years. As per regulations by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, the donations are not tax-deductible as they are for “foreign charitable purposes”, said the foundation.