The Foreign Ministry has started a humanitarian donation campaign through its Calamity Fund to help victims of the earthquake disaster that struck Turkey, Syria, and neighbouring countries.

The campaign starts from today to Feb 23.

The ministry said in a statement that the fund, founded in 2006, strives to gather and coordinate donations from Malaysians to aid victims of natural disasters around the world.

“This noble effort continues, thanks to the compassion and spirit of Malaysia Madani, by collecting humanitarian funds to help the earthquake victims.”

“The ministry welcomes the public, corporate, and business groups and non-governmental organisations to channel donations through the fund. Contributions made are eligible to be claimed as income tax deductions under Subsection 44(6) of the Income Tax Act 1967,” added the statement.

Donations can be made through:

Account Name: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Disaster Fund

Bank Name: Affin Islamic Bank Berhad, Putrajaya

Branch Account Number : 1054 9000 0599

For record and receipt purposes, donation details should be included via the link https://tinyurl.com/yck9tnen.

Any further questions can be submitted to the fund’s secretariat via email tbkln@kln.gov.my.

About 16,540 people in Turkey have been killed in the disaster so far, with 66,130 others injured, following two strong earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 that jolted the country's southern region on Monday.

Another 1,347 have died in neighbouring Syria, with 2,295 reportedly injured.

Neighbouring Syria was also affected by the strong earthquake with 1,347 people reported dead and more than 2,295 injured.

Cyprus and Lebanon also felt the effects of the earthquakes.

Turkey has declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces namely Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa, to ensure the smooth running of search and rescue missions.

- Bernama