The Philippine government has deployed a 91-member emergency response team to Myanmar to assist in the aftermath of the powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake that claimed the lives of over 2,000 people.
“Country assistance ito, so ni-request ito ng country of Myanmar. Nag-offer tayo ng ating expertise, madaming members ito, we have 91 members in the team, 32 ’yung Philippine Medical Assistance Team/PEMAT na WHO-certified (This is country assistance, requested by Myanmar. We offered our expertise. This team has many members—91 in total, 32 of them from the WHO-certified PEMAT),” Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Ted Herbosa said in a television interview on Tuesday, April 1.
Of the 91 personnel, the DOH said 32 are part of the World Health Organization (WHO)-certified Philippine Emergency Medical Assistance Team (PEMAT).
Herbosa said that the rest of the team includes members from the Bureau of Fire Protection’s Urban Search and Rescue Unit, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Disaster Response Unit, and pilots from the Philippine Air Force (PAF).
The team, he said, will stay in Myanmar for two weeks.
The DOH chief noted that this is the second time the Philippines is deploying emergency medical team abroad, the first being the Turkey earthquake response.
The deployment is part of the Philippine Inter-Agency HumanitarianContingent (PIAHC), led by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD).
The team will provide trauma care, life support, pharmaceutical services, infectious disease isolation, and patient referrals.
Herbosa said the team departed from Villamor Airbase aboard two C-130 aircraft of the PAF.
On March 28, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit Myanmar, with its epicenter near Mandalay, the nation’s second-largest city.
FOUR OFWs STILL MISSING
Meanwhile, the Philippine government has been closely coordinating with authorities in Myanmar for the four missing Filipinos in its city of Mandalay and several others following the 7.7 magnitude quake, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said on Monday, March 31.
DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said two of the four missing Filipinos are a couple who both came from Laos, all of them were reported missing in Mandalay City.
“They are still unaccounted for. As far as we know, there are efforts in searching for them, that’s why we need prayers in order to find them, to confirm that they are safe,” said Cacdac.
The DMW is yet to disclose the names of the missing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), saying it is yet to inform their respective families.
There are around 2,000 Filipinos in Myanmar but Cacdac said the actual number remains uncertain due to the presence of scam hubs and human trafficking cases. (Jel Santos, Aaron Recuenco)
