Filipina says she's lucky to be alive, but friends trapped in Turkey quake ruins

While grateful to be rescued, a Filipina in Turkey said her friends remained missing following a strong earthquake that hit the country and Syria on Monday.

Caroline Cengiz said two of her Filipino friends and their families are trapped under the rubble of their apartment building after it collapsed due to the magnitude 7.8 tremor, Marisol Abdurahman reported on “24 Oras” on Thursday.

“‘Yung time na ‘yun, akala ko mamamatay na ako…Madadaganan ka na ng pader na yung mamamatay ka na kasi as in inaano eh...nag-hit ‘yung apartment namin tapos natumba kami ng asawa ko. May sugat pa nga po ako,” said Cengiz.

( I thought I was going to die. I almost got trapped because my husband and I fell after our walls collapsed. I was injured too.)

“Naiyak talaga ko...nakaligtas nga ako kaso kaibigan mo andun. Tapos ‘yung buong building patay po sila lahat,” she added.

(I was devastated. I survived but my friends were still there. Almost everyone in our building died.)

The death toll from the powerful quake in Turkey has reached more than 16,000. Retrieval operations for survivors continue as rescuers race against time amid dropping temperature.

According to the Philippine Embassy in Ankara,  two Filipinos were confirmed  injured due to the earthquake.

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) established a task force to focus on the needs of the affected overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there.

“Higit kumulang mga 77 ang minamanmanan ngayon na mga OFWs. Meron namang mga ulat na mula sa mga recruitment agencies nila at sa Filipino community at sa government, sa embahada natin sa Ankara tungkol sa kapakanan ng ating mga OFWs doon,” said DMW Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac.

(We’re surveilling at least 77 OFWs. There were also reports from recruitment agencies, the Filipino community, the government, and embassies in Ankara on the situation of OFWs there.)

Meanwhile, the country’s contingent composed of a 21-man search and rescue team from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and a 31-man humanitarian man from the Department of Health has arrived in Turkey.—Sundy Locus/LDF, GMA Integrated News