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Saturday, February 18, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 126
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MEMBERS of the Philippine Inter-Agency Humanitarian Contingent dig a casualty site together with local volunteers, February 11, 2023. JOSE ANGELO MANGAOANG/OCD
PHL’s mission of compassion Pinoy rescue, recovery, medical contingent rushes to Turkey following a deadly magnitude 7.8 quake
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hospital set up in the Adiyaman Octagon Bus Station, which has been in operation since February 10. On February 13, the PIAHC urban search and rescue (USAR) team retrieved two dead victims and recovered a severed human leg at “Sector N” of the southeastern city of Adiyaman. Two more bodies were recovered by the USAR team in an apartment complex in the same vicinity on February 14. As of this writing, reports said the death toll following the tremor has exceeded a whopping 40,000.
By Rex Anthony Naval
ESPITE working far from their regular area of operations, the Philippine contingent in quakebattered southern Turkey is now working as fast as they can to provide rescue, recovery and medical care to Turkish citizens affected by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that devastated a big part of the Western Asian nation on February 6.
And while the Filipinos had yet to rescue any earthquake survivor as of February 15, the Philippine Emergency Medical Assistance Team (PEMAT) has so far treated a total of 168 Turkish patients as of February 14 (Turkey time). PEMAT
Hoping to save lives
MEANWHILE, Filipino soldiers
tapped to join the Philippine rescue contingent still hope to make a difference by rescuing Turkish nationals still trapped among the concrete shards and hulks of the buildings that collapsed in the quake. Air Force Major Erwen Diploma, PIAHC commander, gave this impression during an online interview arranged by the Office of Civil Defense on February 13. “We will continue to perform our tasks safely and hopefully we will find live victims [with help from] local responders on the ground,” he said. Diploma said he hopes they can do this in the Continued on A2
is attached to the Philippine InterAgency Humanitarian Contingent (PIAHC), an 82-member team with the following personnel: 30 from the Department of Health, 33 from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (21 from the Army’s
PEMAT members attend to patients and conduct referrals at the field hospital on Monday, February 13, 2023. JOSE ANGELO MANGAOANG/OCD
PHILIPPINE Red Cross chairman Richard J. Gordon receives from Speaker Martin G. Romualdez and other lawmakers the donation of Congress to the PRC’s humanitarian mission to Turkey. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
525th Engineer Combat Battalion and 12 from the 505th Search and Rescue Group), nine from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), eight from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), and two from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD). “The patients catered by the
PEMAT are as follows: 11 February 2023: 14 patients served; 12 February 2023: 41 patients served; 13 February 2023: 60 patients served; 14 February 2023: 53 patients served. Total: 168 patients,” the OCD reported on February 15. PEMAT is catering to these Turkish patients from their field
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.2170 n JAPAN 0.4123 n UK 66.2604 n HK 7.0351 n CHINA 8.0550 n SINGAPORE 41.3301 n AUSTRALIA 37.9672 n EU 58.9276 n KOREA 0.0428 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.7222 Source: BSP (February 17, 2023)