In Germany, according to the German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI), 358 million euros have been donated to the people affected by the flood disaster in western Germany.
That is now more than the total donation amount after the Elbe flood in 2002 (350 million euros), announced the DZI on Friday after a survey of 30 aid agencies, state institutions and associations in Berlin.
Most donations went to the “Deutschland Hilft” campaign (172 million euros) and the “Action Alliance for Disaster Aid” (74.9 million euros). The "Deutschland Hilft" campaign is an alliance of, among others, Johannitern, Maltese, the AWO and Paritätischer. In the “Action Alliance for Disaster Aid”, Caritas International, German Red Cross, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe and Unicef Germany jointly call for donations.
The DZI managing director Burkhard Wilke explained: “In addition to the large scale of the catastrophe and the many disturbing pictures and reports, the high willingness to donate was also helped by the fact that there were few other topics in the holiday season, which is now slowly coming to an end Headlines in the media pushed. “Only after the tsunami in Southeast Asia in 2004 and 2005, with a total of 670 million euros in Germany, had been donated for a single emergency in the last 20 years than now for those affected by the flood.
The organizations are now faced with the challenge of using the money as effectively as possible.
This requires cooperation, explained Wilke.
The recipients of the donations, such as the federal states and municipalities, would also have to deal transparently with the donations.
The DZI also offers a list of donation accounts from reputable aid organizations for the benefit of those affected in the flood areas.