The Philippine Embassy in Yangon is working around the clock to locate four missing Filipinos believed to be trapped in the collapsed Sky Villa Condominium in Mandalay City following last week’s powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.
DFA Office of Migration Affairs Director Catherine Alpay said the Sky Villa site remains one of the most devastated areas, with most of the retrieved bodies found deceased.
“The embassy team is doing everything possible to check the cadavers being retrieved — they’re checking as quickly as possible and coordinating with Mandalay Hospital and those handling the cremation of the bodies,” she said.
Due to the advanced state of decomposition and the lack of cold storage facilities, many of the deceased have been cremated. Alpay said the embassy requested local rescuers to extract tissue samples from the remains to help with possible identification should any of them be Filipino.
“Measures are in place for proper identification when and where possible,” she added, though the DFA remains hopeful the missing individuals are still alive.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo Jose De Vega noted that the relief and rescue efforts are challenged by limited resources and complex ground conditions.
“Most of the hard-hit areas are under the control of the military junta, while other regions are held by armed or secessionist groups. Myanmar is not quite capable, compared to some ASEAN countries, of handling situations like this,” he said.
A nearly 100-member Filipino team of doctors and search-and-rescue specialists has already arrived in Myanmar and set up operations in Naypyidaw. However, deployment locations depend on Myanmar authorities, and not all responders are in Mandalay where the four missing Filipinos are feared to be.
There are 171 Filipinos in Mandalay, 764 legal workers in Yangon, and fewer than 25 in Naypyidaw. So far, 128 Filipinos in Mandalay have been visually verified safe, 14 were outside Myanmar during the quake, and 25 are still due for welfare checks.
The DFA said the embassy is facilitating the relocation of affected Filipinos in Mandalay to shelters in Yangon.
De Vega also revealed that 50 to 60 Filipinos believed to be victims of trafficking and possibly forced to work in scam hubs in Myanmar were about to be repatriated when the earthquake struck.
“The best we know is that we have not received cries for help from these victims specifically related to the earthquake,” he said.