Thursday’s radio and tv campaign for victims of the Haiti earthquake raised over €41m, an amount later doubled by the foreign affairs ministry, taking the total to €83m.

Aid minister Bert Koender said earlier in the day he would double the amount raised by viewers and listeners before midnight. ‘It is fantastic to see how the Dutch are helping out the Haitians,’ he was reported as saying by the Telegraaf.
Following criticism from some viewers that not all the money would end up helping the people of Haiti, Koenders said the government’s audit office would monitor how the money was spent. The relief programme is being coordinated by an umbrella organisation of the main Dutch charities known as SHO.
Among the fund raising efforts which took place: Jonnie Boer, three-star chef at top restaurant De Librije in Zwolle raised €4,500 selling pea soup at the town’s station. One passerby paid €150 for a bowl.
And football coach Guus Hiddink said he would donate €45,000 to the fund-raising effort if the tax investigation department Fiod agreed to do the same. Hiddink was fined the same amount by the Fiod for tax fraud in 2007.
According to the Telegraaf, queen Beatrix also made a donation to Giro 555 but the paper did not say how much.