The Taiwan public has made nearly 207,000 cash donations totaling NT$1.18 billion (US$38.4 million) to a government-run relief fund for Turkey, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said Wednesday.
The MOHW set up a dedicated account on Feb. 7 to collect donations until March 6 to help victims of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6, killing at least 46,000 people and injuring thousands more.
The fund will be transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for relief efforts, the MOHW said, adding that it will also publish credit-checking information about the donations on its website at least once a month.
Besides raising money to help the earthquake’s victims, Taiwan also dispatched a 130 search and rescue team and five rescue dogs to Turkey from Feb. 8 to Feb. 12, during which they rescued two people, one of whom later died in a hospital.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel