Singapore charity urgently sends $1m in funds to Turkish aid group to help quake victims

SINGAPORE – A local charity group has sent about $1 million to a Turkish humanitarian aid organisation to ensure quake victims get immediate access to shelter, hot meals and winter clothing.

The sum is about half of the more than $2 million that the charity, Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation, raised between Feb 10 and 24 for quake relief efforts in Turkey.

In a statement on Thursday, the foundation said it had sought approval from the Commissioner of Charities (COC) to speed up a “partial handover” of the funds to Hayrat Yardim, its partner organisation in Turkey. Approval was sought even before fund-raising efforts were completed, it added.

The first tranche of funding will support relief operations by Hayrat Yardim’s search and rescue teams, emergency aid teams and mobile soup kitchens, said the foundation.

“We hope that through this effort, the contributions of the Singapore community will bring relief and ease the plight of communities affected by the earthquakes,” it added.

The remaining amount will be transferred later, after the collected amount has been fully consolidated and COC gives its approval, said the foundation.

People and organisations in Singapore have

raised nearly $9 million to help buy and distribute food and wate

r for victims of the

7.8-magnitude quake

that struck Turkey and Syria on Feb 6.

The quake was followed by thousands of aftershocks, including another earthquake of magnitude 6.4 in the region on Feb 20, leading to the collapse of more than 100,000 buildings in both countries.

The death toll has since climbed to about 50,000, with many more victims displaced.