Three tonnes of aid donated to the Turkish embassy in Dublin was shipped to Turkey today, following Monday's earthquakes which have claimed the lives of over 11,700 people in both Turkey and Syria.
Turkish ambassador Mehmet Hakan Olcay said the embassy would continue to accept donations from the public and expected an even larger amount of aid to be shipped tomorrow.
Mr Olcay said he was grateful for the donations from the public but hoped that there was a way that medical supplies could also be sent to the affected regions.
One man who arrived at the embassy to donate, spoke about the affect the earthquake has had on his home town.
"There are many people under the rubble, we need to get them out" said Tahir Sacakli. "This is my home town," he said showing us a video on his phone of a street filled with collapsed buildings.
"My friends say when they pass on the road they can hear the people's voices under the rubble.
"My family are okay but our house has been damaged, many people live in tents... I'm calling the whole world - please help Turkey, donate to Turkey... we need the whole world's help."
Meanwhile, Irish NGOs are on the ground and working through local partners to help the survivors of the deadly earthquakes in both Turkey and Syria.
Irish aid agency GOAL has been working in northern Syria and southern Turkey for over ten years and employs over 1,200 people in those regions.
"On the Syrian side of the border, they just thought it was another bomb, they just thought it was the biggest one they'd ever felt," says Declan O'Rourke, Regional Security Advisor, GOAL Middle East.
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"We've been managing to do round the clock search and rescue," he said. "We have a shelter programme in Syria. We have engineers working for us, we have contractors with heavy machinery, excavators ... those have been working around the clock. We've been pulling even our own staff out from under rubble. Some alive, some sadly not."
Irish humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide has a presence in Turkey and focused primarily on providing shelter to those made homeless by the disaster.
An Post announced today that the public can now directly support the international crisis appeal by making a donation by cash or card at a local post office.
Financial donations for the Concern, GOAL, Irish Red Cross and UNICEF Ireland crisis appeals may be made at any post office from Monday to Friday and on Saturday mornings.
An Post and Postmasters have waived the fees normally payable for such transactions so the entirety of donations will go to the customer's preferred charity providing emergency support in the affected areas - Concern, GOAL, Irish Red Cross and UNICEF Ireland.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said today that it is continuing to monitor the situation and will coordinate with relevant UN agencies to say how best it can respond.
Ireland has already pledged €2 million in humanitarian assistance to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the United Nations Syria Cross-Border Humanitarian Fund, saying they were best placed to respond immediately.
For an up-to-date list of official fundraising drives from the various Irish charities visit dochas.ie.
