Turkey declines offer for second PH rescue team as prospects of finding survivors dim

Rescuers carry 20-year-old survivor Ibrahim Kantrji, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, February 10, 2023. (REUTERS)

MANILA, Philippines — The Turkish government has declined the offer of the Philippines t0 send a second batch of rescuers as prospects of finding survivors in the aftermath of the  deadly earthquake become less likely.

“We got information that the Turkish government will no longer accept a second contingent coming from us,” Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) spokesperson Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said in a press conference.

“This was relayed to me by the SND (Secretary of National Defense last night, that’s why we did not prepare for the second contingent,” Alejandro added, referring to Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.

Alejandro said this is because the critical period of 72 hours that disaster experts consider the most likely period to save lives has already passed.

“The told us that the … life-saving [period] has already passed, so there were only few [survivors],” he explained.

Meanwhile, the 82-man Filipino contingent is now at their fourth day of search and rescue operations.

The medical team brought by the Philippine team has catered to some 60 patients since starting their operations on Sunday.

The death toll in Turkey and Syria from Monday’s earthquake and major aftershocks breached the 33,000 mark (over 29,000 in Turkey and over 3,500 in Syria) as of Monday, according to Reuters.

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