Millions Of US Dollars For Australian Fire Donations Raised On Facebook

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - As many as 19,000 Facebook accounts are involved in raising funds for forest fires in Austraia. Fundraising has been carried out on the platform since the last week. The results of this fundraising reached US $ 50 million (around Rp. 687.9 billion).

In the official Facebook website, Head of Facebook Application Fidji Simo said that the assistance and donations came from more than 75 countries.

Facebook noted that the biggest fundraiser was carried out by Australian actor and comedian Celeste Barber, who has raised more than $ 34 million from more than 1 million people worldwide for fire relief.

Another fundraising undertaken by the Animal Rescue and Information Service (NSW) has raised more than US $ 9 million from nearly 300,000 people for assistance to millions of species threatened with extinction from wildfires, including 30 percent of the koala population.

A number of victims affected by forest fires in Australia have created a Facebook Group to share information and support. One of these, the Bushfire Emergency Accommodation group in Canberra, which is made up of 9,000 members, has connected people who have fled their homes and provided accommodation to one another.

To help support and strengthen community efforts, Facebook made a donation of AU $ 1 million (approximately Rp.9.5 billion) to GlobalGiving. Later, GlobalGiving will hand over funds to local organizations.

Facebook also donated AU $ 250,000 (approx Rp.2.37 billion) to the Australian Red Cross to support relief and recovery efforts.

"Thank you to everyone who has contributed and supported those affected. We are inspired by the generosity of the people on Facebook and the power of this tool to bring people together and make a difference," said Simo.

"There is still a lot of work to be done because the crisis is ongoing, and we hope to continue to be part of the holistic solution," he added