Philippines deploys search and rescue team to quake-hit Myanmar
The Philippine contingent boards a C-130 aircraft at Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base, Pasay City, for deployment to earthquake-hit Myanmar on April 1, 2025. —Photo from the Philippine Air Force
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has deployed its first batch of a search and rescue contingent to earthquake-hit Myanmar.
Myanmar’s military junta reported that Friday’s massive 7.7-magnitude quake claimed over 2,000 lives, with 270 missing and 3,900 injured, according to Agence France-Presse.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has confirmed that four Filipinos in Myanmar remain unaccounted for.
READ: 4 Filipinos missing in Myanmar – DFA
The initial Philippine contingent departed from the Villamor Air Base early Tuesday morning aboard a C-130 cargo transport aircraft, according to the Philippine Air Force (PAF). They brought with them essential search and rescue equipment and medical supplies.
A send-off ceremony was held before the crack of dawn, led by Health chief Teodoro Herbosa and Civil Defense Administrator Ariel Nepomuceno, along with other PAF officials.
“Two C-130 aircraft transported the initial 58 contingent members for their two-week deployment to Myanmar, with the remaining 33 members scheduled for transport by a single C-130 aircraft on April 2, 2025,” the PAF said in a statement.
READ: Smell of death permeates quake-devastated Myanmar
According to the Department of Health, it deployed its Visayan Philippine Emergency Medical Assistance Team (Pemat), which is composed of doctors, nurses, medical technologists, pharmacists, midwives, nursing attendants, as well as, administrative, logistics and technical staff.
“The number of Pemats being sent, and the place where they will go, is according to the request of the receiving country in accordance with respect for their processes.,” DOH spokesperson Albert Domingo told reporters through Viber.
Once they arrive in Myanmar, the Pemat is expected to provide acute medical care, life support, trauma management, pharmaceutical provisions and isolation facilities to victims of the earthquake for the next 18 days.
