Anonymous man in US walked into Turkish embassy and donated $30 million to quake victims, Pakistani PM says

According to officials, a US citizen from Pakistan secretly gave $30 million to help those affected by the earthquake that killed hundreds of people in Turkey and Syria and destroyed their infrastructure.

A rare bit of good news has emerged in the midst of the tragedy’s growing death and damage tolls: word of the Pakistani businessman’s goodwill.

Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, tweeted on Saturday said he was “very moved by the example” set by a fellow countryman who entered the Turkish embassy in Washington and gave the money to help earthquake victims.

Deeply moved by the example of an anonymous Pakistani who walked into Turkish embassy in the US & donated $30 million for earthquake victims in Türkiye & Syria. These are such glorious acts of philanthropy that enable humanity to triumph over the seemingly insurmountable odds.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) February 11, 2023

Sharif’s tweet added: “These are such glorious acts of philanthropy that enable humanity to triumph over the seemingly insurmountable odds.”

Three People Rescued in Turkey 198 Hours After Earthquake

Mustafa Tanyeri, the editor-in-chief of the political news website Election Post, tweeted that Murat Mercan, Turkey’s ambassador to Washington, had confirmed the country’s commitment to the earthquake relief effort started in the US.

The donation was received in addition to requests for $77 million from the UN World Food Program to supply meals to at least 590,000 displaced people in Turkey and 284,000 in Syria. The organisation claims that approximately 45,000 of those individuals were refugees and another 545,000 were internally displaced.

More than 33,000 individuals had passed away as of Sunday morning in the US following the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked areas of Turkey and Syria six days earlier.

That number will almost probably rise as the likelihood of surviving being discovered by rescue teams decreases over time. Turkey was home to about 30,000 of the total number of fatalities as of Sunday.