Daniel Craig has praised the UK public for donating more than £100 million to help people left “homeless in freezing winter conditions” by the earthquake that hit southern and central Turkey and northern and western Syria.
The 54-year-old actor, who has played James Bond five times, made a TV appeal for funds to help survivors through non-government organisation the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).
On Thursday, the DEC – which brings together 15 UK charities – announced it had raised £101.5 million since the February 6 quake which killed tens of thousands of people.
Thank you to @ITV for supporting our Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal
And thank you to Daniel Craig for presenting the appeal film
Please donate today to help DEC member charities on the ground reach more people in urgent need of assistance: https://t.co/wg81Cj5Nvx pic.twitter.com/2iYPCdMuhU
— DEC (@decappeal) February 9, 2023
Craig said: “The public’s generous response to the DEC’s appeal for survivors of the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey has been incredibly moving to see.
“The earthquakes lasted seconds but the aftermath will last for years. Since I filmed the broadcast appeal, the numbers of people confirmed as killed or injured have gone up by tens of thousands.
“Hospitals, schools and businesses have been reduced to rubble, and hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless in freezing winter conditions. Please do what you can to help them by supporting the DEC appeal.”
Green Wing and Friday Night Dinner actress Tamsin Greig appeared in a similar film, while comedian and travel documentarian Sir Michael Palin and presenter the Rev Richard Coles voiced audio clips for radio stations.
Sir Michael said the “crisis is deepening” as people struggle to “find food to eat, clothes to wear and fuel to heat their wrecked homes – if they are still standing”.
He added that DEC groups and their local partners on the ground are helping children and families in Turkey and Syria with emergency support, providing food, water, shelter and warm clothing, and will “help them rebuild their lives in the months ahead”.
UN officials previously warned that the number of people killed in the disaster could exceed 50,000.
The region has been facing freezing conditions, with temperatures dropping below zero overnight after people lost their homes, and tremors were still being felt in the area.
More recently, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake tore through Turkey’s Hatay province, centred in the town of Defne, on Monday.