BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 13. Azerbaijani diaspora activists in Australia have joined the relief campaign to help the victims of a terrible earthquake in Türkiye, the State Committee on Work with Diaspora told Trend.
Azerbaijanis living in Australia collected a total of 5,300 Australian dollars (AUD) (6,265 manat or $3,689), in particular, 3,535 AUD ($2,459) were gathered from Sydney, 780 AUD ($542.69) – from Brisbane, as well as 1,000 AUD ($695.76) – from Perth, Melbourne and Ballarat. The collected funds were donated to the Turkish embassy in the country and the Oxfam GB charity.
The Australian cities of Brisbane and the Gold Coast hosted ceremonies in memory of quake victims in Türkiye. According to the National Association of Azerbaijan, the commemoration ceremony in Queensland was attended by the head of the state government, the leader of the opposition, mayors of cities, representatives of the local community, and Turkish and Azerbaijani communities.
The events, which started with the Turkish national anthem, were held to honor the memories of quake victims. While delivering a speech, event manager, Turkish Honorary Consulate General in Queensland Turgut Menli pointed out the scale of the destructing disaster and heavy losses following it. He expressed his gratitude to the nations standing by Türkiye in these difficult days, as well as to the communities of Azerbaijan and Northern Cyprus partaking in the events.
He noted that the Turkish and Azerbaijani communities in Gold Coast with the organization of Berra Sezgin collected $5,000 for the earthquake-affected people.
"I'd like to thank Berra Sezgin and my Azerbaijani brothers who supported us in this campaign," Menli stressed.
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Türkiye on Feb. 6, 2023. The earthquake occurred at a depth of seven kilometers in the Pazarcik region of Kahramanmaras Province. The provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Osmaniye, Malatya, Adiyaman, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, and Kahramanmaras were subjected to severe destruction.
The quake’s epicenter was located 26 km away from the city of Gaziantep with a population of about 1.06 million. Following the latest data, 31,643 people have been killed, and 80,278 have got injured in the quake.