PNP contingent in Earthquake stricken Haiti are all OK!

Photo by ABC news

All 15 members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Forces are okay in Haiti after they have experienced a 7 magnitude earthquake at around 5PM EST. This has been confirmed by PNP Spokesman Leonardo Espina in a press conference held in Camp Crame.

Espina said that Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Fuentes headed the PNP Contingent and among them are 5 officials and 10 Police Non-Commissioned Officers. There was a huge difficulty in getting information even on satellite phones on that day.
They have re established contact through e-mail around 3:30PM that confirmed all 15 policemen are fine in the midst of that strong earthquake which is the strongest they have felt in around 200 years.

Espina also added that with his talk with Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Affairs Office that out of the 155 soldiers that were there, nobody was hurt.

Earlier this day, there were reports that they were trapped under the rubble of the United Nations office in the said country.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on the other hand is finding it difficult to have information on Filipino conditions in Haiti. DFA Spokesman Attorney Ed Malaya said that the primary lines of communication on the said island have totally been disabled by this catastrophe.
Even the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York, USA, could not contact the Philippine Peacekeeping Contingent in Haiti.

Aside from the Philippine troops, there are around 447 Pinoys that have not been still contacted.
Malaya said that the DFA and their people from the Philippine Embassy in Cuba have been sent to check on the conditions of the Filipinos there. I wish they and the people in the island are safe.