An attack on the Manchester Arena last night has killed 22 people and injured 59, with others still missing. In an act of defiant solidarity, Manchester has pulled together in the wake of the attack in order to help those affected, offering shelter in their homes along with donating blood in its immediate aftermath.
If you want to know how you can help the victims of the attack and their families, here’s a rundown of how you can donate money, blood and contribute in other ways while the great city gets back on its feet:
How to donate money
If you don’t live in Manchester but still want to help the victims and their families, the most direct way of doing so is by donating money to a JustGiving fundraising campaign set up by the Manchester Evening News. The campaign is currently on its way to reaching its £250,000 target, with it set to help those affected in the aftermath of the attack. JustGiving takes an automatic 5% cut from all of its crowdfunding campaigns, so we have reached out to the site in order to determine whether it will decide to waiver this fee given the severity of the attack and the number of those affected.
Update: JustGiving informed us that while this campaign would not be exempt from the fee, they would instead be providing their own donation to the campaign. They will provide us with a further update when this donation is made.
Update 2: JustGiving has emailed us to confirm that they have donated a huge 50,000 to the campaign.
How to donate blood
Incredibly, so many people have given blood in Manchester that donations are no longer needed, according to Give Blood NHS. “We are not taking registrations due to a high response following last night’s events”, the organisation said in a statement. “We have all the blood required at the present time.”
However, the NHS has still encouraged people to register to become blood donors, and those already registered are being asked to book an appointment via Blood.co.uk or by calling 0300 123 23 23.
How to help police with key information
If you were at the scene or believe that you have details that would help police in their investigation, you can call the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321.
Searching for missing persons
There are still a number of people missing following the attack, with their families releasing appeals for those in Manchester to try to find them. Citizens have been encouraged to call the police on 999 if they have any information regarding their whereabouts.
These are the people reported as missing at the time of this writing:
Olive Campbell, 15
Liam Curry, 19, Chloe Rutherford, 17
Laura MacIntyre and Eilidh MacLeo
Philip Tron, 32, and Courtney Boyle, 19
Angelika and Marcin Klix
Kelly Brewster
Martyn Hett
Photos and videos of the nearby area
Those who have photos and videos of the Manchester Arena or the area surrounding it around the time of the attack have been encouraged to share them with the Greater Manchester Police. They can be uploaded here.
