Over 5 million euros in donations collected from Dutch municipalities after earthquakes

The funds provided by Dutch municipalities for emergency relief after the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria amounted to more than 5 million euros on Friday. Most municipalities transferred the money to Giro555.

About 50 municipalities have so far pledged to donate 1 euro per inhabitant. At the beginning of the evening, the counter stood at approximately 5.25 million euros.

The donating municipalities include Amsterdam (905,000 euros), Rotterdam (664,000 euros) and Utrecht (362,000 euros). They were joined on Friday by major cities such as Eindhoven (244,000 euros) and Tilburg (227,874 euros). In addition, cities such as Apeldoorn, Arnhem, Enschede, Amersfoort, Zwolle, Alphen aan den Rijn, Dordrecht, Venlo and Deventer also gave 100,000 euros or more.

Furthermore, Zutphen donated 2 euros per inhabitant. Two people from the town in Gelderland were killed by the earthquakes, and a third Zutphen resident is still missing. They were in the Turkish city of Antakya. The total of 100,000 euros is intended for this city, "the place with which Zutphen feels so connected today".

However, The Hague, the country's third-largest city, did not participate in the initiative. "This was a difficult decision, but we (...) can only spend the money we have once. This money does not belong to us, but to the residents of The Hague," the municipality explained. If The Hague had participated, the municipality would have transferred over 562,000 euros.