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An enormous earthquake struck southeast Turkey along the Syrian border on February. 6, which has killed over 5,000 people to date. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale, which is internationally classified as a "large" earthquake, and took place along 100 kilometres (62 miles) of the fault line.
The region's infrastructure has been significantly damaged, resulting in a deadly cross-border humanitarian disaster.
Nevertheless, the world reacted quickly. Across the internet and various social media platforms, people have been gathering funds for local and international aid organizations to provide relief to those in the affected areas.
Two of the largest aid efforts in Turkey, AFAD Turkiye, the government agency for such disasters, and the NGO Ahbap, led by philanthropist Haluk Levent, have been at the head of organizing an influx of aid.
Levent announced that its organisation has opened crypto addresses in order to accept support in different forms of digital currencies.
Ayr?ca diger adresler
ERC20 Ag? Transferleri:
0xe1935271D1993434A1a59fE08f24891Dc5F398Cd
BEP20 Ag? Transferleri:
0xB67705398fEd380a1CE02e77095fed64f8aCe463
Avalanche Ag? Transferleri:
0x868D27c361682462536DfE361f2e20B3A6f4dDD8
— Haleuk Raise (@halukraise) February 7, 2023
Refik Anadol, Turkish artist and artistic director, has also launched a crowdfund through an Ether address (), in which he will transfer the funds collected to AFAD and Ahbap.
Dear friends, the purse to support the populations of the region affected by the earthquake. These funds will go a long way to helping people who are facing enormous difficulties on the coldest of days. I hope we can build strong support within the web3 community! Thank you! 0xEd67922e36eD2422d391306f6f6ECC19d58EAa4f
— Refik Anadol (@refikanadol) February 6, 2023
In the Web3 space, various companies in the industry have mobilized to provide assistance, whether it be in the form of crypto or fiduciary gifts or even physical assistance.
Crypto trader derivatives bitget announced that it would engage 1 million Turkish lire (~ $53,000), while bitfinex, keel, synonym and bound promised 5 million lire (~ $265,500), and carries.I promised LIT 1 million (~$53,000).
Local Turkish crypto exchange Bitci sent an aid truck to the earthquake zone while announcing that all commission income for the month of February will be donated to Ahbap on behalf of the Kahramanmaras-centered earthquake. Icrypex announced efforts to co-ordinate with afad and ahbap.
Btcturk calls it cointelegraph, in addition to donating Lit 6 million ($318,000) to the ahbap and akut agencies, the Turkish cryptography exchange has sent 1.2 million lire (62,000 dollars) in clothing assistance to the area in coordination with local governments.
Turkey's bybit branch and okx have both pledged to send $100,000 and 1 million lire (~ $53,000) in aid, respectively.
Related: DeFi, DAOs and NFTs: Crypto is redefining how charities raise funds
Cointelegraph also spoke with Sebastien Borget, co-founder and COO of The Sandbox, about his efforts with The Sandbox Turkey to provide grassroots support to local communities.
"Our hearts go out to the people of Turkey today. In collaboration with the community of creators of the sandbox in Turkey, we are in contact with the competent non-governmental organizations to establish a relief fund and support the areas affected by the earthquake.”
He said that with The Sandbox Turkey, they helped fill a truck with emergency supplies for victims and affected persons and are looking for options for longer-term support.
Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have also been mentioned as a possible way of fundraising for the disaster.
Turkish artist NFT Pak tweeted about giving ahbap, as well as plans for a long-term NFT support initiative. The starting point in his proposal also refers to the development of a non-financial assistance initiative for further support in the near future.
The situation is developing and is being monitored by cointelegraph. This article will be updated to include all pertinent information.
