# Public response to DEC appeal reaches £30 million

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/12/31/public-response-dec-appeal-reaches-30-million/
- Published: 2004-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

By late night on 30 December, The Guardian reports that the UK public had donated
£30 million by phone and Internet to the DEC’s Tsunami/Earthquake appeal, the most
rapid response to any UK charity appeal to date.
The amount donated will exceed 
even that figure, since many people will have given by post, or via the post office
or banks and building societies. Indeed, the public have already donated considerable
sums to individual charities involved in the relief effort: Oxfam and the British
Red Cross have received £2.7 million and £3 million respectively in the first two
and a half days of their appeals.

 

 

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Steven Morris at SocietyGuardian lists just some of the remarkable donations that
have been made, and the attempts by some of the charities to handle the rush of 
donations being offered. “Oxfam’s call centre was so busy,” he writes, “that staff
brought in relatives who were given 15 minutes’ training before beginning to answer
calls, which were coming in at more than 400 every hour.”

 

 

Save the Children has been handling over 2,000 calls a day from donors, and Muslim
Aid told The Guardian that its phones and Web site had been busy all day yesterday
handling donations.

 

 * **[Big Lottery Fund gives £12 million to tsunami affected areas](https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/01/06/big-lottery-fund-gives-12-million-tsunami-affected-areas/)**(
   6 January 2005)
 * **[Accor Services donates 10p per eye exam voucher to RNIB](https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/01/06/accor-services-donates-10p-eye-exam-voucher-rnib/)**(
   6 January 2005)
 * **[Grant application deadline for BBC Children in Need](https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/01/09/grant-application-deadline-bbc-children-need/)**(
   9 January 2005)