Turkiye quake: Pakistani-American doctors raise $365,000 to help survivors

Washington: An amount of $365,000 was raised within an hour of a Zoom Telethon organized by Pakistani-American doctors on Sunday to help victims in Turkiye of last week’s catastrophic earthquake that killed thousands of people and left millions more in desperate need of aid.

Organizers said that more contributions were expected, both in cash and kind.

Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan, made a passionate appeal to the Pakistani diaspora to contribute generously towards providing relief to the Turkish brethren, as “their suffering is our suffering, their agony is our agony,” according to a press release issued by the Pakistani embassy.

Turkiye’s Ambassador Hasan Murat Mercan, who also participated in the virtual telethon, briefed the participants about the magnitude of the calamity.

He thanked the government and the people of Pakistan, especially the Pakistani community residing in the United States, for their prompt and generous support at this difficult hour.

In his remarks, Ambassador Masood Khan said, “Our hearts go out to the people and government of Türkiye who were hit by one of the deadliest earthquakes in the past one hundred years and one of the biggest natural disasters of our times.”

The Pakistani envoy expressed heartfelt condolences of the nation to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the entire nation of Türkiye over the tragic loss of precious lives and other damages.

Ambassador Masood Khan also lauded the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) and its leadership for organizing the telethon and raising humanitarian assistance for the earthquake response in Turkiye.

APPNA, on the occasion, also offered to send a medical mission to Turkiye to support relief efforts.