The Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Appeal has raised £175m in two weeks, making it the second-biggest fundraising appeal in the organisation’s history, new figures show.
The DEC said the appeal raised £55m on its first day, the largest amount raised by one of its appeals in 24 hours, and proceeded to hit the £100m mark four days after its launch on 3 March.
The highest amount raised by the DEC to date was in response to its 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami Appeal, also known as the Boxing Day Tsunami, which raised £392m in public donations.
The appeal received £10m on its first day, which at the time set a new record for the most money raised online in 24 hours, the DEC said.
Since its first appeal, for the victims of the 1966 earthquake in Varto,Turkey, the DEC has launched 74 appeals and raised a total of £1.7bn.
Some of its biggest fundraisers include £107m raised for those affected by the Haiti earthquake in 2010, £96m for the victims of the 2015 Nepal earthquake and £79m raised in 2011 for those affected by drought and famine in East Africa.
A spokesperson for the DEC said: “The response to this appeal has been incredibly generous. We’ve seen hundreds of thousands of donations from the public, some amazing fundraising stories, and schools, companies, arts organisations and sports events all coming together to lend their support.
“All of our appeals are different but this is the biggest response we’ve seen since the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.”