Germany telecommunication company makes calls between Germany, Turkey and Syria free for a week

German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom is making all phone calls and text messages from its network between Germany, Turkey and Syria free of charge until Feb. 15.

The move aims to help the families of those impacted by Monday’s earthquake to stay in touch, as well as support ongoing search and rescue efforts on the ground, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The CEO of Deutsche Telekom, Tim Höttges, said in the statement that the company is “responding to the helplessness of so many of those affected not only with sympathy, but with concrete help.”

He added that many Deutsche Telekom employees have relatives in Turkey or Syria.

The company said it is donating 1 million euros (around $1.067 million) to an alliance of German aid agencies involved in relief operations after the earthquake.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, Germany hosts the third largest refugee population in the world, half of whom are from Syria. The country is also a home to the world’s largest Turkish diaspora.

Source: CNN’s Jessie Gretener and Sugam Pokharel