Many international bodies and entities announced that they will provide assistance to those affected by the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, Monday, February 6, 2023, whether through material or in-kind assistance.
International technology companies were strongly present among the initiators of assistance, as some of them announced donations, while others went to provide technological services to help those affected.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, said that his company would use its capabilities to help the victims, and wrote on Twitter, “We think of everyone in Turkey and Syria who suffers a devastating loss after the earthquakes, and we have activated SOS Alerts to provide emergency information to those affected.”
Google defines the “SOS” service through its blog as alerts aimed at facilitating access to emergency information during natural crises and works to collect important information from the Internet, which it presents to the user according to his location, in addition to data from local and international authorities.
Pichai confirmed that Google employees will provide material support for the relief efforts, in a move that won the admiration of the followers who demanded that the matter be adopted by major companies to provide the largest amount of donations for the account of those affected.
In the context of technological assistance, Elon Musk, the South African billionaire and owner of SpaceX, announced his company’s readiness to send Starlink services to Turkey to secure communications and the Internet to areas some of which were cut off due to the earthquake, but the Turkish government has not agreed to publish its services yet.
For his part, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, announced that his company will make donations to the victims in Syria and Turkey.
“I send my condolences to the people of Turkey, Syria, and everyone affected by the devastating earthquakes, and Apple will donate to relief and recovery efforts,” Cook said on his Twitter account.
The Binance cryptocurrency platform also announced its work on finding ways to help victims, but it did not announce some of the steps it would adopt for this matter.
“We are really saddened by the earthquake that struck Turkey, and our team is working on finding a solution to help people. I held 4 meetings on the matter today, more details will come later, stay strong,” the platform’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, wrote on his Twitter account.
In terms of material donations, the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange – on behalf of a group of companies – pledged 5 million Turkish liras to help those affected in Turkey.
Tech To The Rescue also called on technology companies to join and help the earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria and confirmed that it is making efforts to coordinate between technology companies and relief organizations so that they can provide an effective response to the crisis.
The devastating earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria caused the death of thousands of victims, and injured and missing persons under the rubble of destroyed buildings, and search efforts are still continuing in both countries.
