Skopje, 8 February 2023 (MIA) – Citizens of North Macedonia donated around Mden 10 million to Red Cross for the victims affected by the devastating earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria, Red Cross Secretary General Sait Saiti told a press conference held Wednesday in Skopje, alongside Turkish Ambassador to North Macedonia Hasan Mehmet Sekizkök.

Alongside monetary aid, 1,000 food packages, 1,500 hygiene packages and 4,000 blankets were allocated from the stock reserves of the Red Cross. Ambassador Sekizkök expressed deep gratitude for the solidarity shown by North Macedonia and its people.

“We have secured Mden 10 million in donations from our citizens, around 3 million 300 thousand from phone calls to our number 143 400, an absolute record in all activities we do in this direction, as well as payments from the citizens and companies amounting to Mden 6.5 million,” Saiti said, adding that the same tempo continues today, and he’s optimistic that we will once again show solidarity as a people and a nation.

“It will all be sent to the Republic of Türkiye in cooperation with the Turkish Red Crescent early next week,” Saiti said.

He mentioned that the volunteer humanitarian aid collected at drop-off points is impossible to send due to customs limitations, which is why he appeals to all aid-collecting initiatives to divert their efforts to collect monetary aid.

Ambassador Sekizkök pointed out that Türkiye is facing one of its biggest natural disasters yet, thanking North Macedonia for its readiness to help the victims.

“The Government, institutions and people of North Macedonia have mobilized in parallel with Türkiye to heal the wounds. The rescue and protection crews from North Macedonia have arrived in Türkiye in order to support the aforementioned actions and additional crews will be sent soon. I’d like to thank the Government and people of North Macedonia for their solidarity,” the Ambassador said.

He added that the authorities in Türkiye need to issue a request for volunteers in order for the volunteers applying to help in Türkiye to be accepted, because this is something applicable in other countries and cooperation measures are being implemented in this direction.

Asked if there would be aid provided to Syria as it also suffered the earthquake greatly, Saiti pointed out that the official call to donations specifies it’s for both Türkiye and Syria, but he admitted there are issues with delivering the aid to parts of the country that are not under the control of the official government, noting that they will do all they can to reach these areas as well. dk/nn/