The Armed Forces of the Philippines announced on Tuesday it will be sending a total of 33 military personnel to Turkey to augment the search and rescue operations for the victims of a massive magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck the country and Syria early Monday.
AFP Chief Andres Centino said the rescue team will be composed of 21 Philippine Army personnel and 12 from Philippine Air Force.
“They are all trained for search and rescue operations. Marunong sila sa mga (the are knowledgeable in) collapse structures rescue. They have the training and the equipment to do this special task,” Centino said in an interview with reporters.
Centino said these personnel have been deployed in some parts of the Philippines for civil-military operations and have augmented the local humanitarian assistance and disaster response efforts during disasters and emergencies.
“The biggest deployment was last year during typhoon Odette. I was just telling them na wag kayong kabahan kung lalabas kayo ng bansa. I’m just preparing them kasi malamig ang bansa na pupuntahan nila (I was just telling them not to worry if you travel outside the country because they will be deployed in a country with cold weather),” he added.
Centino is confident that the Filipino rescue teams will be able to fulfill the tasks given to them despite the winter conditions in Turkey at this time.
“They’re soldiers. They are ready and they can secure themselves. Besides, we also have a defense attache there. We are in contact with them and appropriate security arrangements will be there,” the AFP chief said.
The Filipino rescuers are expected to fly going to Turkey on Wednesday, 8 February.
At least 24,000 rescuers in Turkey and Syria are braving the freezing weather, at 1 to negative 3 temperature, as well as the aftershocks of the earthquake.
The death toll has now risen to 5,019 people, of which 3,419 are Turkish and 1,600 are Syrian, with 5,775 buildings confirmed to have collapsed.
Meanwhile, World Health Organization senior emergency officer Adelheid Marschang said some 23 million people, including 1.4 million children, have been affected by the tremor.