President Bongbong Marcos revealed that the government will be sending a rescue and humanitarian mission to earthquake-struck Turkey.
Marcos said that the government will deploy a contingent that will conduct search, rescue, relief and other assistance to Turkey, which was hit by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Monday.
Marcos said the Philippine contingent will depart for Turkey on February 8.
“We have organized a group of about 85 personnel together with some goods… Ang hinahanap sa atin ay mga blanket, mga winter clothing dahil siyempre ‘yung mga nasiraan ng bahay sa Turkey ay wala na silang matirahan. They’re exposed so they need all of these things,” the President said.
“So we are organizing it already and I already have the assurance also of the Turkish Airlines that they will be the ones to bring our people and our equipment and our goods to, I suppose, to Ankara first and then to be distributed properly in Turkey,” he added.
The Philippine government will also send engineers and health workers and provide other necessary assistance to the victims of the powerful quake.
“So lahat, ‘yung engineering, mayroong pinapadala tayong mga engineer, mayroon tayong pinapadalang health workers, and of course the goods that we feel that they will need,” Marcos said.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) have already mobilized the Philippine search and rescue contingent.
Personnel from the MMDA and DOH already experienced previous foreign deployments in Japan and Haiti, which have also been rocked by powerful earthquakes.
The Turkish Embassy in Manila has earlier sought assistance in the form of emergency medical and urban search and rescue teams.
“Our thoughts and prayers go to the peoples and governments of Türkiye and Syria following the strong earthquake that has claimed many lives and caused massive destruction to their countries,” the President said in a tweet on Monday.
“The Philippines is ready to help in whatever way it can in responding to this disaster,” the chief executive added.
