The Philippine Inter-Agency Humanitarian Contingent (PIAHC) to Turkey will be coming home on Tuesday night, Feb. 28, nearly three weeks since it started its special mission to help in the search, rescue, and retrieval (SRR) operations in the aftermath of a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Feb. 6.
An advisory released by the Department of National Defense (DND) showed that the 82-member PIAHC will arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 at 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Prior to this, the contingent started decamping on Feb. 25 in Adiyaman, a province in southern Turkey where SRR and medical teams operated, since there were no more signs of life detected amid the quake rubble.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said the team made an exit call with the ambassador and coordinator for international relief after their operation. The members of the contingent were presented with a letter of appreciation in recognition of their efforts.
Since the contingent began operating on Feb. 10, the PIAHC’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team assessed 36 collapsed buildings, retrieved six bodies, and confirmed two more fatalities.
Meanwhile, the PIAHC’s Philippine Emergency Medical Assistance Team (PEMAT) served 1,022 patients in a field hospital they established at the Adiyaman Otagon Bus Station.
The team departed from an emergency shelter at Cukurova Dormitory in Istanbul on Feb. 26 before they flew to Manila.
Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno, OCD Administrator, earlier lauded the efforts of the contingent “for a job well done” in representing the Philippines by delivering assistance to Turkiye.
“They’ve raised the Philippine flag overseas and shown to the international community that the Philippines can go side by side with other countries in terms of providing humanitarian assistance at an internationally recognized standard,” Nepomuceno said last Feb. 21.