A Pakistani businessman residing in the United States of America donated $30 million to the victims of the devastating earthquakes that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria last week.

This was announced by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday, and he said on his Twitter account, "I was deeply moved by the example of an unknown Pakistani man who entered the Turkish embassy in the United States and donated $30 million to earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria."

"These charitable works enable humanity to overcome difficulties that seem insurmountable," he added.

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

And last Thursday, Sharif formed a special ministerial committee to oversee the collection of funds and relief materials for the victims of the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria.

The committee meets daily to ensure the timely delivery of funds and relief materials to the quake-devastated areas.

In the context, Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority announced on Twitter on Saturday that Pakistan International Airlines and Turkish Airlines had sent two more relief shipments to Turkey from Lahore, the capital of the central-eastern Punjab province.

The Pakistan Air Force also said in a statement that its planes carrying 16.5 tons of humanitarian aid donated by people to the earthquake victims "arrived in the city of Adana, southern Turkey."


On Tuesday, the Pakistani Prime Minister issued instructions to form a relief fund for those affected by the earthquake in Turkey.

The Pakistani government said in a statement that all members of the Cabinet will donate a month's salary, while all state employees will donate a day's salary to the relief fund.

The death toll from the earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria about a week ago exceeded 29,000, with more bodies recovered from under the rubble of destroyed buildings in the two countries, in light of the continued search for survivors, despite the dwindling hopes of finding them.

Today, Sunday, Turkish Vice President Fuad Oktay announced that the death toll from the earthquake in the south of the country has risen to 24,617, while the death toll in Syria has reached about 4,000, according to the statistics of the Syrian Observatory.

And at dawn last Monday, an earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale, followed hours later by another with a magnitude of 7.6 and hundreds of violent aftershocks, which left huge losses of lives and property in both countries.

The Turkish authorities announced the collapse of more than 7,000 buildings in the ten states that were affected by the earthquake and the aftershocks that followed, and an unknown number of houses collapsed in northern Syria.

The crisis is compounded by the refugees, especially the Syrians. Of the 15 million affected people in the Turkish regions, there are more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees.