PH to send cash aid to quake-hit Syria, says OCD

FILE PHOTO: Rescue workers look for survivors amid the rubble of a building in the rebel-held town of Jindayris on February 10, 2023, days after a strong earthquake hit Turkey and Syria. AFP

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government will send a cash donation for the victims of the earthquake in Syria, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said Thursday.

According to OCD spokesperson Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is just waiting for approval for the cash donation.

He did not mention how much, but he said the money may come from either the DFA or the Office of the President.

“We are just waiting, actually the DFA is already waiting for the approval because the intent is to send a cash donation,” he said in a chance interview at the OCD headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo.

Earlier, House Speaker Martin Romualdez announced that the Philippine government will donate $100,000 in humanitarian aid to Turkey, which was also rattled last week by the 7.8-magnitude quake like Syria, through the House of Representative Speaker’s Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation Initiative.

To date, the death toll from the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6 has surpassed 41,000.

READ: Nine survivors pulled from Turkey’s rubble as earthquake death toll passes 41,000

Of the total,  35,3418 were from Turkey while 5,814 were from Syria.

KGA