The Red Cross Society (RC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina launched a campaign to help the population of Turkey and Syria threatened by devastating earthquakes on February 6. They are still available with their teams and the teams of the Red Cross of the Republika Srpska, the Red Cross of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Red Cross of the Brčko District.
Rajko Lazić, secretary of the Red Cross Society of BiH, Namik Hodžić, general secretary of the FBiH Red Cross, Džana Kapić from the FBiH Red Cross and the head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Elmir Camić, presented the results of the action to help the population of Syria and Turkey, as well as further assistance activities at the press conference today.
They thanked the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the generosity they showed by collecting aid for the vulnerable population in Turkey and Syria, but also the media, which helped the implementation of this campaign with their information, and the media coverage of the rescue teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Citizens throughout BiH called the humanitarian number 17023 85,000 times and collected 170,000 KM in that way, and more than 170,000 KM were paid through the humanitarian bank account,” said Lazić.
Given that the Red Cross Society of BiH is part of the global system, the International Federation of Red Cross and the Red Crescent, which operates in 192 countries, an urgent appeal for the collection of 650 million Swiss francs has been announced. Of this amount, 200 million is intended for the needs of the citizens of Syria and the rest for the needs of the citizens of Turkey.
Aid convoys continue to go from BiH to Turkey and Syria.
The head of the ICRC delegation, Elmir Camić, pointed out the importance of helping Syria, where the war has been going on for 12 years. And not only that, but the citizens also faced the Covid-19 pandemic, and then 85,000 people were infected with cholera.
“The earthquake created a cataclysm in that already vulnerable area,” said Cemić, Fena reports.