Myanmar appeal raises £7.5 million on day one with donations from King and Queen
The appeal raised £7.5 million on the first day and donations from the public are still being matched pound for pound by the UK government up to £5 million, as part of its UK Aid Match scheme.
Made up of 15 UK aid agencies – including the British Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children – the DEC issued an urgent appeal for funds to help the thousands injured and displaced.
The DEC said the current appeal total includes a 'generous' donation from Charles and Camilla, who are regular supporters of DEC appeals.
More than 3,100 people have died so far in Myanmar and more than 4,500 have been injured, according to the leaders of Myanmar's military government.
The DEC's latest fundraising announcement comes after television and radio appeals aired on Thursday calling for support.
Saleh Saeed, chief executive of the DEC, said: 'We are extremely grateful to all the people who have already donated to the DEC Myanmar Earthquake Appeal.
'Once again, the UK public have shown their immense generosity and desire to help those impacted by disasters.
'The stories we are now hearing from the survivors who have managed to escape the ruins of flattened buildings are harrowing.
'Children have lost their families. Thousands have suffered life-changing injuries. Countless more have had their homes and possessions destroyed.
'Life-saving aid is already being delivered by member charities using funds donated to the DEC. But we can reach more people, families and children with your donations. If you are able – please help.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Over £300m given to English councils to help house Ukrainian refugees unspent
More than £300m given to English councils to help Ukrainian refugees into accommodation has not been spent, while thousands of them face homelessness. Freedom of information requests to 150 councils in England, shared with the Guardian, identified that £327m – about a third of the £1bn budget – was still sitting in council bank accounts more than three years after Russia invaded Ukraine. Most of the funds councils have spent have been used to pay staff and partner organisations. Only £22m has been spent on temporary accommodation for Ukrainians and £15m to help them into private rented accommodation. Many Ukrainians struggle to find accommodation in the private rented sector because of the need to provide a deposit, something councils can help with but which some Ukrainians say in practice can be slow, bureaucratic and difficult to access. Finding a UK guarantor can also be difficult and those unable to speak English struggle to negotiate with landlords. British Red Cross research earlier this year found that Ukrainian refugees were more than twice as likely as British people to experience homelessness. Using data from across Britain, the Red Cross research estimates that more than 6,400 Ukrainian families will experience some form of homelessness this year. Baljeet Nijjhar of UKrainian Refugee Help, who obtained and collated the FoI data, said: 'Local councils are allocated thousands of pounds per Ukrainian arrival, yet the guests we support seem to struggle to access this directly when in need. 'The most common issue is inability to rent privately and people often don't know anyone in the UK who could act as a guarantor, so it's the local council that they must rely on here to solve this problem. 'Our research shows that many councils have significant levels of funds left, but have helped very few people to rent, whereas others have demonstrated a 'can do', proactive approach and have helped significantly more.' She called for targets to be set for council spending of government money earmarked for Ukrainians and for interventions from Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to get more people into private rented accommodation more quickly. Solomiia Baranets, a Ukrainian refugee and trainee lawyer who runs the Ukrainian Employment Integration Project to help people find jobs, said she had struggled to get housing for herself and her family and was trying to help others in the same situation. 'The status of Ukrainians here is not stable. I have two children and a disabled mother. I contacted more than 50 landlords. They were very polite but they never came back to me. The council did not help me. I had to help myself.' Stan Beneš, the director of Opora, an organisation that supports Ukrainians in rebuilding their lives, said: 'The quality of council support for Ukrainians is often a postcode lottery. Since the Ukraine visa schemes began, councils have had significant discretion over how to use government-allocated funds, and whether to top them up from their own budgets. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'Differences in council structures, resources and priorities across the UK have widened the gap. While some Ukrainians still receive a high level of support, an ever-growing number are struggling. These barriers are further compounded by the trauma of war and forced relocation.' Dr Krish Kandiah, the director of the Sanctuary Foundation, which provides support for Ukrainian refugees, praised the British public for their hospitality. 'It is now vital that the UK builds on that generosity by ensuring that every Ukrainian has the security and dignity of their own front door,' he said. An MHCLG spokesperson said: 'Councils are given a set amount of funding per arrival and it's not unusual for this to be spent over the duration of their time in the UK rather than all at once. Ultimately councils are best placed to understand the needs of their local communities and explain how this money is spent.'
Sky News
4 days ago
- Sky News
Queen appears emotional following 'off script' comments by veteran about King at VJ event
The Queen appeared emotional as a war veteran paid tribute to the "brave king" at a VJ Day memorial event following his cancer diagnosis. The King and Camilla joined Sir Keir Starmer and 33 veterans aged 96-105 who served in the Far East and Pacific at a national service of remembrance in Staffordshire on Friday. But when Yavar Abbas, who was a captain in the 11th Sikh Regiment, went on stage at the National Memorial Arboretum to read extracts from his diaries during his time in Burma in 1945, he also took a moment to go "off script". Camilla looked at her husband sitting next to her and appeared to wipe away a tear as Mr Abbas, 105, originally from Lucknow in India, said: "I make no apologies for briefly going off the script to salute my brave king, who is here with his beloved queen in spite of the fact that he is under treatment for cancer." There was applause in the crowd as Mr Abbas said he had also been treated for cancer, and added that he hoped it would bring "comfort" that he had been rid of the disease himself for 25 years. VJ Day marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, but much of the celebration in 1945 focused on VE (Victory in Europe) Day in May, with those who served in the Far East labelled The Forgotten Army. Mr Abbas added: "I salute him for gracing this occasion, because by his presence here, he has gone a long way to make sure that his grandad's 14th Army is never given the sobriquet again of The Forgotten Army." 'He's human' Speaking afterwards, he said he made "no apology" for his comments. "I admire the man... I admire The King. He has similar views about things as I have, about the environment for example. "He's human. When I went up to him and talked to him, he said something very touching to me. He said to me when you said that I almost cried. That's our King and he's a great King." 3:57 Ahead of the service, King Charles, in a pre-recorded audio address to the nation, vowed the sacrifice of heroes who fought and died in the campaigns "shall never be forgotten". He also significantly acknowledged the devastation caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which led to Japan's surrender, describing the "immense price" paid by its citizens, adding, "we pray no nation need ever pay again". He said: "Please know that the courage and camaraderie displayed in humanity's darkest hour is a flame that shall blaze for eternity - a beacon that honours our past and guides our future." After the service of remembrance, which started with a two-minute silence and a Red Arrows flypast, the King made his way to the Far East corner of the arboretum, where he met Silas Sarbah and Khadak Chettri, the grandsons of Second World War soldiers, as well as William Slim, the great-grandson of General Bill Slim, who led the so-called Forgotten Army. He saw tributes at the Burma Railway memorial, which is built from 30 metres of original track from the so-called "Railway of Death", and took a moment of reflection at the Burma Star Memorial and the Chindit Memorial, before going to a reception for VJ veterans and their families. The King and Queen were joined by the prime minister and Lady Starmer, as they met some 30 veterans who served in the Far East during the six-year war for the British and Commonwealth Armed Forces, accompanied by their families and carers.
Spectator
5 days ago
- Spectator
King Charles's poignant VJ Day reminder
It has been one of the hallmarks of King Charles's reign so far that, when he makes a commemorative or ceremonial address, especially when he is remembering Britain's wartime victories, he usually manages to hit the correct note. He has become very adept at persuading even the most dyed-in-the-wool republicans that he is the right man at the right time. Therefore, when it was announced that he would address the nation in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of VJ Day – the grimmer, less obviously triumphal cousin of VE Day – expectations were high that the King would once again deliver. What was less expected was how personal the speech would be. In his six-minute message put out earlier today, there was an unexpected nod to none other than Lord Mountbatten, the King's great-uncle who was murdered by the IRA in 1979. Charles said that: While that final victory… was achieved under the strategic command of our steadfast American allies, the war in South-East Asia had reached its climax under the leadership of my great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, from whom I learnt so much about the particular horrors and heroism witnessed in those furthest fields of combat. At first glance, this was innocuous enough, but as ever with the King's carefully chosen choice of words and allusions, the remembrance of Mountbatten – once described by Charles as 'the grandfather I never had' and the inspiration for Noel Coward's heroic character in the classic second world war film In Which We Serve – will have been a very resonant one. Still, if he was drawing the slightest of connections between wartime Japanese barbarity and similarly horrific events that had occurred rather closer to home and in living memory – Charles was well into his thirties when his great-uncle was assassinated – then much of the rest of the address was more innocuous. Drawing on the famous words of his grandfather George VI, who announced simply on 15 August 1945 that 'The war is over', the King said: Seldom can a simple message have resonated with such a potent mix of relief, celebration, and sorrow for those who never lived to see the glow of freedom's new dawn. On this day of profound remembrance, I speak to you in that same spirit of commemoration and celebration as we honour anew all those whose service and sacrifice saw the forces of liberty prevail. The King attended an emotional service today at the National Memorial Arboretum, alongside his fair-weather friend Keir Starmer. It was deeply moving to also see the presence of 33 veterans who had served in the Pacific and the Far East. Aged between 96 and 105, it was clear to everyone attending that this would almost certainly be the final occasion they would be seen at such an event. When the 101 year-old Ronald Gumbley recited the poet Laurence Binyon's famous lines – 'They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them' – it could not help but be affecting. Charles's thoughtful and well-chosen words were entirely suited to the gravity and seriousness of the day. Yet amidst them, the tribute that he paid to the 'courage and camaraderie displayed in humanity's darkest hour' might be thought to have been equally true of other, more recent times, too. Barbarity, after all, is not confined to the distant past, and this carefully constructed address was a moving reminder of that.
