DFA: Over 50 Filipinos staying in Ankara shelter after Turkey-Syria quake

More than 50 Filipino evacuees are currently staying in a shelter in Ankara, Turkey after being affected by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit the country and Syria last week, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Monday.

Interviewed on GMA News’ Balitanghali, DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said the Philippine Embassy in Turkey is in touch with the 248 Filipinos in Turkey, who will all be receiving financial assistance from the Philippine government.

“Sa 248, may mga na-repatriate, may nadala sa Ankara. Over 50, mga 55 ang nadala ngayon nasa Ankara, nasa shelter doon,” he said.

(Of the 248 Filipinos, some were repatriated or brought to Ankara. There were over 50 of them, or around 55 are now in a shelter in Ankara.)

De Vega added that these Filipinos are not all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Some of them are already Turkish residents.

Meanwhile, the DFA official also said that the body of one of the two Filipinos who were confirmed dead due to the earthquake will be brought back to the Philippines.

“‘Yung isa, nilibing kasi ayun ang hiniling ng kanyang asawa… ‘Yung isa naman, pauwi na ‘yung kanyang labi itong Linggo mismo. Inaayos ng Embahada ‘yung repatriation ng kanyang remains,” de Vega said.

(The one fatality was buried as requested by the family. The remains of the other one will be repatriated this Sunday. The Embassy is already making the arrangements.)

He said the DFA will help any Filipino affected by the quake who also wishes to go back home to the Philippines.

He also said the DFA will determine what benefits the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) may give to affected OFWs in Turkey.

An 82-man Philippine Search and Rescue Group was earlier deployed to Turkey to join teams from all over the world in search for survivors of the earthquake that brought wreckage to the country on February 6. —Giselle Ombay/ VAL, GMA Integrated News