DOH: 3 teams ready to aid quake victims
The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday said three medical aid teams were ready to be sent to Myanmar and Thailand after the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck the two countries last Wednesday.
“The DOH can send our [Philippine Emergency Medical Assistance Teams, or Pemats] should there be a need for humanitarian medical assistance in Myanmar and Thailand. We are ready,” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said in a statement.
Herbosa said the DOH was awaiting instructions from President Marcos as the government coordinated with both countries, both fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The news service Reuters reported on Saturday that the quake damaged roads, bridges and buildings in Myanmar, according to the junta, whose top general made a rare call for international assistance on Friday (See related story in World, B4).
The death toll in Myanmar has surged to 1,002, up sharply from initial state media reports of 144 dead on Friday, Reuters added.
At least nine people were killed in Thailand, where the 7.7 magnitude quake rattled buildings and brought down a skyscraper under construction in Bangkok, trapping 30 people under debris, with 49 missing.
Toll may hit 10,000
The United States Geological Survey’s predictive modeling estimated the death toll could exceed 10,000 in Myanmar and that losses could exceed the country’s annual economic output.
Aside from extending direct assistance to earthquake victims, joining a multinational aid mission would also provide valuable training to the Philippines’ own earthquake response teams.
The Philippines experiences thousands of earthquakes every year, both strong and unfelt, as it lies on the temblor-prone Pacific Ring of Fire.
At 6 p.m. on Saturday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology listed 36 earthquakes all over the country, mostly weaker than magnitude 4.
One of the deadliest earthquakes happened on July 16, 1990, when a magnitude 7.8 quake rocked Luzon and killed around 3,000 people and cost the economy P10 billion.
In December 2023, a magnitude 7.6 quake killed three people and injured 79 others, causing damage amounting to P1 billion. The quake series sent tsunamis that reached Japan.
Earlier that year, the DOH also sent two aid teams to help in the February 2023 Turkiye-Syria earthquakes.
The two teams came from the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital in San Fernando City, Pampanga, and another from Metro Manila composed of members from Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital in Caloocan City.
The Eastern Visayas Medical Center in Tacloban City also organized its own aid team later.
In September last year, officials of the World Health Organization (WHO), Singapore Emergency Medical Team and Japan Disaster Relief conducted a verification visit to assess the Philippine teams’ capabilities in clinical management, logistics, water, sanitation and hygiene.
The three aid teams were eventually certified and given WHO emergency medical team (EMT) badges, recognizing their readiness for international humanitarian deployment.
All three Pemats are classified as Type 1 fixed EMTs, which means they can provide daylight-hours care for acute trauma and nontrauma presentations and referrals. The Pemats from DOH can also do ongoing health investigation or care and community-based primary care in an outpatient fixed facility.
