More than a million leva has poured in through donations from ordinary Bulgarians responding to public pleas locally to help the people of Haiti.

The money has come in through separate campaigns pushed by competing broadcasters, and the situation has not passed without some sniping among rival media.

Nova Televisiya’s Ivan and Andrei show claims to have been the first to call on people to donate, alleging that Bulgaria’s public response had lagged. On their January 20 show, the hosts urged people to give money via the special SMS line set up by the Bulgarian Red Cross, 1255, which went into operation on January 15, three days after the earthquake.

An appeal by the television show’s duo for people to adopt Haitian children was followed by Nova’s rival, bTV, running a story quoting Bulgarian authorities saying that no special fast-track provision would be made for Bulgarian people who wanted to adopt children from the earthquake-devastated island.

About a week later, bTV announced plans for a four-hour telethon on February 2, recruiting more than 100 Bulgarian musicians, actors, business people and politicians, and in co-operation with Unicef, launching its own dedicated SMS line, 1021, and special bank account.

Participants in the bTV telethon included Prime Minister Boiko Borissov and Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova.

On February 3, bTV said that its show had raised close a million leva, mostly through text messages. The money would be used by Unicef on items including canvas tents, drinking water, purification tablets, food for malnourished children, protection of orphans and various vaccines, bTV said.

Two days before the bTV show, public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television used its Sunday marathon show to appeal for support for the Bulgarian Red Cross campaign, and raised about 33 400 leva in the space of a few hours that afternoon.

By February 2, according to its website, the Bulgarian Red Cross had raised more than 250 000 leva. Donations may be made via SMS to 1255 or a special bank account, details of which are on the Bulgarian Red Cross website, redcross.bg. The Bulgarian Red Cross Haiti fundraising campaign continues until February 15.

Separately, Bulgarian pop artists are taking part in three charity concerts in Sofia organised by the I Can Too foundation, which works with children with disabilities and promotes their social integration. All concerts are at Sofia Live Club.

The first one was on January 28, the next one is on February 8 at 8pm with performances by Maria Ilieva, Krista and Boyan., the rap-duo of Santra and Kristo and pop singers Alex Raeva and Vessela Boneva, and the third, on February 15 at 8pm, will feature the bands D2, Ostava, Baby Face Clan, Nasekomix among others. Donations can be sent to I Can Too foundation’s bank account. As with the Bulgarian Red Cross account, details can be found on the sofiaecho.com website.

Bulgaria has sent a team of military doctors and nurses to Haiti. The Military Medical Academy in Sofia said on January 24 that the team had extensive experience, with each having participated in missions as part of Nato contingents in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.

The theme of Haiti also featured prominently in the February 3 European Parliament confirmation hearings of Bulgaria’s European Commissioner-designate Kristalina Georgieva.
Georgieva, who will have the international co-operation, humanitarian assistance and emergency response portfolio when the new European Commission takes office on February 9, told a news conference after the hearings that Haiti would be her "first priority", ensuring the expediting of the delivery of assistance such as shelter, food and medical supplies.

She told the committee that she would do her best to enable Europeans to deliver the best possible help to Haiti. Georgieva said that the opportunity should be created for Haiti’s private sector to recover, because it would not be enough to rely solely on government authorities and international organisations in working towards recovery.