Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), yesterday sent off a three-man team bound for Pakistan that will lead the Southeast Asia regional delegation tasked to help recover and relocate survivors of the recent earthquake that devastated South Asia.
The team was consisted of Raul Gaganera, officer-in-charge of the PNRC Disaster Management Service (DMS); Eric Salve, National Field Representative for PNRC-DMS; and Carmelo Caagbay, a nurse from the Quezon City Red Cross Chapter.
Gordon said the PNRC took the initiative to prepare emergency search and rescue team that can assist in the rescue operations in South Asia. They informed the Red Cross South Asia regional delegation and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) last Sunday through their regional delegation office in Bangkok that three rescue teams consisting of 14 PNRC staff, all highly trained in collapsed structure rescue, were all ready to fly anytime to Pakistan to provide assistance. The PNRC received confirmation from the IFRC in Geneva yesterday morning and set the first team for their mission.
Gordon said the team will first go to Bangkok for a pre-deployment briefing together with the other members of the Southeast Asian delegation which will consist of seven members each of the medical and relief teams. After that, they will proceed to Islamabad, Pakistan.
"This is the first time that Filipinos will lead other Southeast Asian volunteers to help South Asia. We are glad that the PNRC can provide assistance to our brothers and sisters in South Asia. We are proud of these PNRC staff who are all highly trained in disaster response. And we wish them not good luck but good skill,’’ said Gordon.
