Charity collects huge donations for Swiss Covid victims
Heading to a test centre in Arosa, eastern Switzerland, on January 29
Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller
The humanitarian charity Swiss Solidarity collected more than CHF43 million ($47.7 million) in donations last year for victims of the coronavirus pandemic in Switzerland. This is the largest amount since the CHF50 million collected after a devastating storm in 2005.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/ts
The humanitarian arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, SWI swissinfo.ch’s parent company, together with private media collected a total of CHF64.5 million for aid worldwide, Swiss Solidarity said in a statementExternal link on Thursday.
“In 2020, we proved once again that Swiss Solidarity can also help right here at home thanks to the generosity of the people of Switzerland and the support of trustworthy partners and organisations,” said director Roland Thomann.
In Switzerland 1.7 million people received support in the form of financial aid, services and food aid. Swiss Solidarity launched its coronavirus support campaign in March, the largest and longest fundraising campaign for the Swiss population since 2005.
More
More
Swiss Solidarity launches coronavirus support campaign
This content was published on
The humanitarian arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, swissinfo.ch’s parent company, will use the money to give emergency assistance to the elderly, homeless and people with economic or social difficulties. Contributions to the campaign can be made via the website https://www.glueckskette.ch/External link or the postal account 10-15000-6, using the reference “Coronavirus”. Since it was established…
Swiss Solidarity said it supported 409 projects of its partner relief organisations in 41 countries, including Switzerland, to help people affected by humanitarian crises, conflicts, violence and natural disasters.
Two-thirds of the donations went to help people in need in Switzerland. Abroad, one focus of fundraising was Lebanon, following a devastating explosion in a port in Beirut in August. For this, donations were given worth CHF7.5 million.
Funds also went to ongoing projects for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and to projects in Indonesia following the earthquake and tsunami in 2018.
Since 1946 Swiss Solidarity has collected more than CHF1.8 billion in donations.
More
More
Coronavirus: the situation in Switzerland
This content was published on
An overview of the latest Covid-related information in the Alpine nation.
Federal offices and Xplain adopt data protection recommendations
This content was published on
Swiss authorities and its private contract processors are required to review their cooperation after an investigation into leaked data.
This content was published on
Heavy rainfall has caused severe flooding in northern Armenia and cost lives. Switzerland dispatched a team of seven engineers to the region.
Swiss House of Representatives does not want to recognise Palestine as a state
This content was published on
By 131 votes to 61 with 2 abstentions, the House of Representatives said 'no' to the postulate put forth by the Social Democratic Party.
This content was published on
The peak of the snow accumulation was most likely reached on Monday, wrote glaciologist Matthias Huss on the social media platform X on Tuesday.
US Vice President Harris to attend Ukraine peace conference
This content was published on
US Vice President Kamala Harris and US President Joe Biden's security advisor, Jake Sullivan, will take part in the Ukraine peace conference.
FINMA director expects cooperation and transparency from banks
This content was published on
"I demand complete and unfiltered access to all information", said the director of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority said in an interview.
Swiss Senate wants additional billions for the army
This content was published on
The increase in the payment framework is intended to ensure that the army budget reaches the target value of 1% of gross domestic product by 2030.
Swiss Senate rejects special fund for army and Ukraine
This content was published on
There will be no CHF15 billion ($17 billion) special fund for the army and reconstruction in Ukraine. The Senate has clearly rejected a motion by its security policy committee.
Earthquake service reports 4.4 magnitude quake in central Switzerland
This content was published on
The earthquake was probably felt throughout Switzerland, according to the Swiss Seismological Service of federal technology institute ETH Zurich.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Swiss donate three million masks for relief workers in Africa
This content was published on
The Swiss foreign ministry’s humanitarian aid unit has donated the face masks to support under-resourced relief work in developing countries.
This content was published on
A special stamp introduced in April to help those affected by Covid-19 has raised some CHF2.5 million, Swiss Post said on Thursday.
Minister’s quote on a T-shirt raises money for coronavirus poor
This content was published on
A T-shirt with a statement by Swiss health minister Alain Berset on the coronavirus crisis has been sold 20,000 times, raising money for charity.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.