OCD says no need to extend PH rescue team in Turkey

FILE PHOTO: People sit next to rubble at the site of a collapsed building following an earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) on Thursday said there is no need for the Filipino rescue team to extend their stay in earthquake-battered Turkey.

The 82-man interagency contingent was on its sixth day of rescue operations since arriving in Turkey on February 9, according to OCD spokesperson Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV.

The OCD had said that the rescue team, composed of police and military members, along with personnel from the Department of Health and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will stay in Turkey for two weeks.

“We don’t see any need for them to extend,” Alejandro said in an ambush interview.

The OCD official also reported that the Philippine rescue team has swept through 34 buildings destroyed by the deadly tremor in search of possible survivors and remaining bodies buried in the rubble.

READ: 2 Filipinos dead in Turkey earthquake

According to Alejandro, the Philippine rescue team has so far only recovered dead bodies. He did not elaborate.

The Philippines’ emergency medical assistance team has also catered to survivors requiring hospitalization, serving 256 patients from February 11-15, he added.

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

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6 claimed the lives of more than 41,000, according to a Reuters report on February 14.

The combined death toll comprise of 35,3418 people from Turkey and 5,814 people from Syria.

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

KGA