How Generous Were the Arab Peoples in Supporting Turkiye After the Earthquake?

The Arab countries were at the forefront of countries that rushed to provide relief and aid to Turkiye and Syria following the devastating Kahramanmaras earthquake, which struck the country on February 6, 2023, and caused huge material, moral and human losses.

Arab aid convoys came to help the afflicted areas after the great destruction in 11 Turkish states, namely Kahramanmaras, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adi Yaman, Osmaniye, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, and Elazig.

This prompted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to give special thanks to the Arab countries that stood with Turkiye during a television address on the Haber Turk channel.

He said: "Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait are among the countries that provided us with huge assistance; we are still receiving aid, and they pledge more support."

 

370 Million Dollars

At the time of the earthquake, 16 Arab countries officially announced the establishment of air bridges and the provision of urgent relief and medical aid to support Turkiye, namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Emirates, Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Jordan, Bahrain, Libya, Tunisia, Palestine, Iraq, Mauritania, Sudan, and Oman.

According to what was published by Anadolu Agency on February 20, 2023, the initial proceeds of aid provided by Arab countries to the earthquake victims exceeded 370 million US dollars.

Qatar contributed the highest amount of aid. A spokesman for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majid al-Ansari, announced on February 17, 2023, that the value of the aid provided by Doha to the quake victims in Syria and Turkiye reached 253 million Qatari riyals ($70 million).

Al-Ansari stressed, according to what the Qatari Foreign Ministry reported, that the value of Qatari assistance to Turkiye and northern Syria amounted to 85 million riyals during the first 10 days of the disaster.

Qatar also provided 10,000 prefabricated houses for the quake survivors.

 

Aid Bridges

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz opened an air bridge and worked to organize a popular campaign through the Sahem Platform to support Turkiye, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), on February 11, 2023.

709,775 people participated in the donation campaign, according to the platform's data, and the proceeds of donations exceeded 249 million and 934 thousand and 8 riyals (about 66.6 million dollars).

Kuwait achieved a great relief campaign for the victims of the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria. On February 11, it launched, via a live broadcast on the country's official television, a major donation campaign to which many government officials and citizens contributed.

The campaign, which was called "Kuwait Is by Your Side," was able to collect donations of 13 million Kuwaiti dinars ($42.6 million) in the first hours after launching it, as the number of donors exceeded 65,000, according to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

On February 7, the UAE announced the provision of aid proceeds amounting to 50 million dollars for the earthquake victims in Turkiye and 50 million dollars for Syria, with the dispatch of a field hospital to the affected areas.

Algeria was one of the fastest countries to provide assistance. On the day of the earthquake (February 6), it announced sending a search and rescue team of 86 people, along with 95 tons of humanitarian aid.

On February 10, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced the allocation of $30 million in aid to Turkiye in facing the effects of the devastating earthquake.

Palestine was strongly present in the ranks of donors, as the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs organized the "Help Them" campaign on February 18 and collected about $1.37 million for the benefit of the earthquake victims.

Palestine also participated in two support teams to Turkiye and Syria to help those affected. Egypt also provided 144 tons of aid, Lebanon and Sudan participated in search and rescue teams, and Iraq provided a number of heavy equipment.

Libya helped by sending 5 planes loaded with 15 tons of aid and a search and rescue team, and Morocco launched extensive campaigns to collect donations, as did Mauritania.

Jordan sent a search and rescue team, established a field hospital, and worked to provide 10,000 equipped tents for those affected.

 

Popular Campaigns

It was not only the official relief that was provided by the Arab countries to Turkiye, but the Arab peoples also actively contributed to the relief and interacted humanely with the catastrophe.

On February 17, the Somali government announced that it had collected $4 million through popular donation campaigns, including $3 million from the Somali Merchants Committee, and the government gave $1 million.

The UAE popular relief campaign was also launched by Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed al-Qasimi, wife of the Ruler of Sharjah and chairwoman of the Big Heart Foundation (TBHF).

The aforementioned campaign succeeded in collecting 15,649,140 dirhams ($4.2 million) to provide relief to those affected.

On February 12, the Arab communities in Britain collected donations for the quake victims on the sidelines of the Arab Communities Day in its 9th annual anniversary, organized by the Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB) under the slogan "Al-Quds brings us together and the blood of the martyrs unites us."

The head of the Palestinian Forum in Britain, Zaher Birawi, announced on Facebook that the Arab communities in London expressed their solidarity with the quake victims in Turkiye and Syria and collected 20 thousand pounds sterling (about 24.1 thousand dollars) for the victims.

In Mauritania, the students of the Turkish Maarif Schools donated about 16 thousand dollars as part of the popular donation campaign.

The American Council of Islamic Organizations (CAIR), led by Arab communities, announced that Muslims in the United States of America have collected about $100 million in material and in-kind assistance for those affected by the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria.

On February 21, members of the Moroccan community in Istanbul announced the collection of donations of more than one million Turkish liras (about $53,000) to contribute to relief.