Volunteers in Egypt gather donations to send to Syria

Volunteers in Egypt announced on Friday having collected 90 tons of donations to be sent to the areas in northern Syria devastated by the earthquake.

The items include essential food supplies, blankets, clothes and baby milk.

"We planned to collect two tons of donations to send (to Syria, Ed.).
This became much bigger than we thought, it reached very high numbers.
Two tons are supposed to be sent in one container but they became eight containers to be sent on a boat. Twelve large loaded vehicles and now another three airplanes, each one will carry 20 tons. We reached 90 tons as a total of collected donations - and we have a maximum capacity of 120 tons", informed Hassan Abdul Taawab, Tatanaki Foundation worker.

The donation campaign in Cairo gathered momentum as people were eager to give supplies and help with the relief efforts. 

So far, the earthquake caused 23 thousand victims.

”I’m here helping with collections that we going to be sent to Syria for the earthquake victims. One of my friends was in contact with this organization, helped gather a lot of donations that we dropped off, and now we all here helping to pack and label the boxes to be put on a flight to go over to Syria“, said volunteer Renee Jian.

Millions of Syrians in the northwest live in poverty, mostly relying on aid to survive with many families displaced by a 12-year conflict across the country.