Dutch singer Marco Borsato joins the telethon. Courtesy of Giro555

HOLLAND - A national fundraising campaign was initiated by Dutch aid organizations and media outlets to help the victims of typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan).

On Monday morning, the telephone lines at the Institute for Sound and Images in Hilversum, the Netherlands opened for receiving donations via Giro555, a national fundraising campaign launched by Stichting Samenwerkend Hulporganisaties Sho, a cooperation of aid agencies in the Netherlands.

They partnered with Dutch media outlets including Public Omroep, SBS6 and RTL to raise funds to help the survivors of typhoon Yolanda.

A national fund raising drive is usually done whenever a big tragedy happens like the earthquake in Haiti and the tsunami in Southeast Asia.

"It is really a splendid day of getting together and feeling that we are connected in humanity here and we are connected to the Philippines, and [the] Philippines is connected to us here in the Netherlands and that's a tremendous feeling even though the situation is really horrendous," said Henri van Eeghen, fundraising chairman.

Dutch celebrities, media personalities, singers, beauty queens and regular Dutch people joined the fundraising drive that lasted until midnight. Some auctioned their belongings, others volunteered in answering the phones. Other also performed for the volunteers while Filipinos distributed home-cooked Pinoy meals to them.

"I am very shocked about what has happened and we get so many stories via social media and of course I had to participate because I really want to help the Filipinos. Everyone sees the Filipino people as very strong and happy people, even when they are down, even when something like this happens, people can still smile and it's very beautiful to see and they are a great example for people around the world," said Cystine Carreon.

TV Host Britt Dekker was touched when she saw images of destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan. Courtesy of Giro555

TV host Britt Dekker visited in the Philippines last year. She was shocked and touched upon watching the wreckage brought by the typhoon.

In a translation she said, "I have never cried so hard in any movie than I did when I was watching the news, the images. It was so terrible. We can donate money but we can also give our time and effort."

At the end of the day, Giro555 was able to raise more than 18.5 million euros or more than one billion pesos. This will be donated to nine organizations that are already active in relief operations in rehabilitations in the Philippines, including Oxfam Novib, Terres de Hommes, Icco Kerk in Actie, Save the Children, Red Cross, Care Nederland, Unicef, Cordaid Mensen In Nood and World Vision.

"Some portion of it will go to immediate relief efforts. Some of them will go to actually start building houses, get microfinance going and a number of other things to help people get into their own sustainable situation again where they can start taking care of themselves, have children go to school, have sanitation facilities, hospitals to have running again and so on," said Eeghen.

Filipinos who participated in the event in Hilversum were teary-eyed with the tremendous help that the Dutch people extended.

"Sa ganitong panahon talagang nandyan sila para sa atin. In behalf of the Filipinos living here in Holland, I would like to express my gratitude to the Dutch people, to the Dutch government for the support they had given to us during this dreadful disaster," said Meryl Jansen.

Giro555 will continue to receive donations after the televised fundraising marathon. This is on top of the two million euros already given by the Dutch government, as well as donations from individuals and groups who are continuously rallying for the victims of Yolanda.