The Turkish Trade Office in Taipei announced on Saturday that due to having received more in-kind donations than expected for survivors of a deadly magnitude-7.8 earthquake in Turkey and Syria early Monday, the office will stop receiving relief supplies from 5 p.m. on Saturday.
In a statement, the Turkish Trade Office expressed gratitude for the generosity and kindness of people in Taiwan who have donated in-kind assistance to the victims affected by the temblor, with the quantity of donations being more than expected.
With many other countries in the world doing the same to send in-kind donations to Turkey, the office said it had decided to stop receiving donations from people in Taiwan from 5 p.m. on Feb. 11 instead of the original deadline of Feb. 15.
In collaboration with the Tzu Chi Foundation, the office began accepting in-kind donations of winter clothing and necessities from Thursday as the displaced earthquake survivors were faced with freezing weather conditions.
During a visit on Saturday to the Tzu Chi liaison office in Taipei’s Neihu District where the donations were being collected, Turkey’s representative to Taiwan Muhammed Berdibek said when he witnessed the massive amount of relief supplies that had poured in over the past few days, he was so moved that he almost cried.
Berdibek expressed regret that his office had to bring forward the donation deadline as it had received more donations than it could handle, adding that he did not know what he could say to accurately express his gratitude to Taiwanese.
More than 23,000 people were confirmed dead as of late Friday evening after the massive earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on Monday, according to authorities.
In addition to the in-kind donations, cash donations continue to pour in from Taiwanese, with more than NT$271.77 million (US$9 million) received as of Friday afternoon, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said on Saturday.
Taiwan has also sent two search and rescue teams totaling 130 members with five search dogs to Turkey to help search for possible survivors.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel