Mercy mission to Myanmar

PH deploys 91-member team for quake response

- By JEL SANTOS

The Philippine government has deployed a 91-member emergency response team to Myanmar to assist in the aftermath of the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck on March 28 and had already claimed the lives of over 2,000 people.

"This is the country's assistance upon request from Myanmar. We offered our expertise. There are 91 members, 32 from the Philippine Medical Assistance Team (PEMAT) who are all World Health Organization (WHO)-certified," Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Ted Herbosa said in a television interview on Tuesday, April 1.

Herbosa said the rest of the team includes members from the Bureau of Fire Protection's Urban Search and Rescue Unit, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Disaster Response Unit, and pilots from the Philippine Air Force (PAF).

The team, he said, will stay in Myanmar for two weeks.

The DOH chief noted that this is the second time the Philippines is deploying an emergency medical team abroad, the first being the Türkiye earthquake response.

"The first experience of this team was in Türkiye, a few years ago. This is now our second deployment in another country as a WHO-certified team," he said.

"There are only 52 WHO-certified teams in the world. We have three-numbers 44, 45, and 46.