MILLIONS POUR INTO AID GROUPS AFTER SYRIAN TODDLER’S DEATH

THE HAGUE – Millions of euros in donations flooded into aid groups Friday from across Europe and the US from people heart-broken by photos of a drowned Syrian toddler lying washed up on a Turkish beach.

Under pressure at home to act, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain would put up an extra £100 million (137 million euros, $153 million) in humanitarian aid for the Syrian crisis, bringing London’s total contribution to the conflict to more than 1.0 billion pounds.

And the children’s charity UNICEF reported that donations had sky-rocketed since the picture of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi lying face down on the sand, his little shoes still firmly tied on his feet, went viral.

“Donations are up 105 percent,” said a statement from the US-branch of UNICEF.

“When the image really hit the web, page views spiked over 149 percent over same time previous day.”

The International Olympic Committee also launched an emergency two-million-euro ($2.2 million) fund, as the picture of Aylan, still dressed in blue shorts and a red T-shirt, triggered a wave of emotion, despite deep divisions among European governments about how to act.

“There is an enormous response from the public, the tide of indifference is shifting,” Christian Peregrin, spokesman for the Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station, told AFP.

The group, working to help migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean from Libya, had by Friday received a record 600,000 euros ($666,500) in pledges.

“Before that, 10,000 euros in a day  would have  been a good day,” 
he said.

Source: AFP