Philippines ready to deploy humanitarian contingent to quake-hit Morocco

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is ready to deploy its humanitarian contingent to quake-hit Morocco, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said yesterday.

“What happened to Morocco recently is a reminder to all of us to continuously prepare against the threat of earthquakes, especially the big ones,” said Ariel Nepomuceno, OCD undersecretary and National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) administrator.

Nepomuceno said the country sympathizes with the affected communities in Morocco following the magnitude 6.8 earthquake that hit its High Atlas mountains.

“We are looking into the possible deployment of the Philippine Inter-Agency Humanitarian Contingent (PIAHC) to Morocco. The Office of Civil Defense, as the executive arm of NDRRMC, is already making arrangement for this,” he said.

He added that President Marcos has already given the instructions through Department of National Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr.

On Sept. 8, a magnitude 6.8 quake hit Morocco’s High Atlas mountains, leaving at least 2,901 dead and injuring more than 5,000 individuals. Search, rescue and retrieval operations are still ongoing in the affected areas.

“We are deeply saddened by the aftermath of the earthquake that hit Morocco. We want to assure Morocco that the Philippines is more than willing to extend assistance to support the ongoing response operations. We are organizing a humanitarian contingent for possible deployment,” Nepomuceno said.

The team will be comprised of personnel from the OCD, 526th Engineering Combat Battalion-Philippine Army, 505th Search and Rescue Group-Philippine Air Force, Bureau of Fire Protection-Special Rescue Unit, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Davao Rescue 911 and Department of Health.

Meanwhile, Nepomuceno reminded the general public and other stakeholders to take part in the country’s earthquake resilience endeavors.

“It is terrifying that in just seconds, an earthquake could claim many lives and leave massive destruction. Through the whole-of-nation approach, we should strengthen our prevention, mitigation and preparedness measures against earthquakes,” he said.

In February this year, the Philippines also sent an 82-man PIAHC to Turkiye to assist in their quake response operations. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit Turkiye and Syria left 50,288 individuals dead and 125,857 others injured.

The PIAHC team assisted in medical concerns as well as in the search, rescue and retrieval operations.