Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 12) — A Filipino and her children have been confirmed missing after a deadly magnitude 7.8 earthquake devastated Turkey, now called Türkiye, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Sunday.
“The Embassy has sought the assistance of search-and-rescue teams in Hatay City on the status of a missing Filipino and their children, feared to be still under rubble,” the Philippine Embassy in Ankara, Türkiye’s capital city, reported.
“This has been confirmed by her husband and sister-in-law, both Turkish nationals,” it added.
Rescue operations are ongoing in the country to pull survivors out of the rubble.
Latest reports say that over 28,000 people in Türkiye and Syria perished in the quake. Two of the dead were Filipinos, the Philippine Embassy in Ankara said.
The body of one Filipino fatality will be repatriated. As for the other, her bereaved family in the Philippines has sought consent from her Turkish husband regarding the treatment of her remains.
Philippine Ambassador to Türkiye Maria Algabre also thanked the Indonesian Embassy in Ankara for assisting in the evacuation of three Filipinos in Hatay Province. They are now traveling safely to the capital city, the Embassy said.
Meanwhile, the Embassy announced that the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will deploy personnel to Türkiye as part of a joint interoperability exercise between these agencies and the DFA.
This exercise would “strengthen the relief operations both in the field and at the shelter in Ankara,” it said.
Earlier, the Philippine government sent an 85-man team of rescuers to Türkiye to aid in relief operations.
The Philippine Embassy in Ankara is open for information on Filipinos affected by the quake. They can be reached via phone and WhatsApp (+905345772344), via email at ankara.pe@dfa.gov.ph, or via Facebook.
