At the donation handover ceremony. (Photo: VNA)

Statistics show that the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and neighbouring Syria on February 6 was one of the strongest in the region over the past century, killing more than 50,000 people and destroying thousands of houses. It has caused economic losses worth some tens of billion of US dollars.

The money was raised during the first phase of a fundraising campaign launched by the VRC Central Committee on February 17 in support of people hit by the devastating earthquake.

As of March 6, it received donations and commitments of more than 12 billion VND (506,436 USD) and goods from agencies, businesses and individuals.

On March 9, at the donation handover ceremony, over 4 billion VND, in both cash and kind was also raised by units and enterprises.

In her remarks, VRC President Bui Thi Hoa called for more donations and pledged that all the donations will be allocated in line with legal regulations.

The donations should be sent to the VRC’s headquarters at 82 Nguyen Du, Hanoi.

Its representative office in the southern region is also available for the donations, at 201 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

Apart from bank accounts, the association has opened an app named “Thien Nguyen” to serve the campaign, which will last until May 30.