THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday said assistance will be provided to the earthquake-affected Filipinos in both Türkey and Syria.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza said both the Philippine Embassy in Ankara and Damascus have activated the so-called “crisis control management” as soon as the earthquake rattled south Türkey.

“They will do what needs to be done and bring what needs to be brought to actually be able to address the needs that have been raised by different (Filipino communities),” she told reporters in a briefing.

Daza said both embassies have a contingency plan to secure necessary assistance for distressed Filipinos and ensure there is representation with the host government if repatriation is needed.

As of this writing, none of the 248 Filipinos in affected provinces in Türkey and the 60 others in Syria have requested to be repatriated, she said.

Both embassies, she added, are in contact with the Filipino communities in their jurisdiction.

Weng Timoteo, vice president of the Filipino community in Türkey, said several Filipinos were among the displaced, some of whom are left with no choice but to stay in their cars in the middle of the winter.

Timoteo, in an ANC interview on Wednesday, said one Filipina wanted to travel from Hatay all the way to Istanbul but said it would be “impossible” to do so given that most roads have been damaged and are impassable.

“We are in touch with the Philippine Consulate General in Istanbul as well, we’ve been passing information about what we know so far about our affected fellow Filipinos,” she said.

Meanwhile, a Filipina who was presumed dead in the Turkish province of Hatay was found alive days after a 7.7-magnitude hit the country, a Filipino community leader reported yesterday.

“Isang kababayan po ang na-recover na napabalita po noong una, kinonfirm po noong amo na patay na pero na-recover siya buhay po (One compatriot of ours has been found alive and recovered after being confirmed dead by her employer earlier),” Cherry Santos, president of the Filipino community in Ankara, said in a DZMM interview.

Citing information from their network of Filipinos in the affected areas, Santos said the Filipina was inside a building in Hatay when the temblor reduced structures to rubbles in 10 Türkiye provinces last Monday.

She was with three other Filipinos who Santos has no information about as of posting.

“Ang info na nakuha namin mga three to four (ang missing), nakuha na ‘yong isa. Nasa isang building lang sila (According to our info, three to four are missing, and we have found one. They were in one building),” Santos said.

As of Feb. 9, a team from the Philippine Embassy in Ankara is already in Adana and the city of Iskenderun in Hatay to provide all possible aid, including food, blankets, water, and cash.

The embassy continues to receive a “steady stream of confirmed and unconfirmed” reports of affected Filipinos and would act swiftly on these calls.

In Adana, the embassy team led by no less than Ambassador Maria Elena Algabre has evacuated four nationals to a safer location in the city of Mersin.

It urged distressed nationals to contact its hotline via telephone or WhatsApp at +905345772344 or via email at [email protected] and Facebook.

More than 13 million persons in Türkiye and Syria were impacted by the massive earthquake, with a multitude of people still trapped under the rubble. The death toll in affected areas is also climbing by the hour and has reached more than 11,000, based on United Nations figures. Philippine News Agency