A day-long television and radio fund raising campaign started in the Netherlands on Wednesday morning to raise money for the victims of the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

The Giro555 campaign kicked off at 5.55 on Wednesday morning with around €28.6 million in the bank, which had been donated in the previous days. The cabinet has also announced a new €10 million donation to help survivors of the quakes, which killed over 40,000 people.

Throughout the day radio and television programmes will be devoted to fund raising and Dutch celebrities are manning the phone lines alongside representatives of the Turkish and Syrian communities.

From 8.30pm, public and national broadcasters will join forces with a prime time evening television show to further boost donations. Chantal Janzen will present the show which includes talk show hosts Jeroen Pauw and Eva Jinek as well as live performances and reports from the disaster zone.

Fund raising is also taking place all over the country, in mosques, churches, schools and at companies.

Emergency relief

The Giro555 funds are used for emergency relief, providing shelter, medical help and food for the tens of thousands of people who lost their homes in the quakes.

In March 2022, the television and radio marathon to bring money for the victims of the war in Ukraine raised €106 million  by the end of broadcasting.

Wednesday’s campaign is the 49th major fund raising effort by the Giro555 organisations in 38 years. The most successful to date was the 2004 campaign after the Indian ocean tsunami, which raised €208 million.

Donations can be made via IBAN: NL08 INGB 0000 0005 55 in the name of the Stichting Samenwerkende Hulporganisaties, Den Haag