Press Release
May 8, 2008

GORDON: PNRC PREPARING TO JOIN INTERNATIONAL RESCUE TEAM TO HELP MYANMAR

Senator Richard Gordon, Chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) and member of the Board of the Governors of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), is preparing to join the international rescue team to help recover and relocate survivors of the recent tropical cyclone that struck Myanmar.

Gordon emphasized that it is the noble mission of the PNRC to alleviate human suffering and "we are answering the call to help our brethren who have been devastated by the disaster."

"As an active member of the IFRC the PNRC are committed to join the international community to aid and lend a helping hand to our Asian neighbors," he said.

Myanmar residents awoke Sunday to devastation after tropical cyclone Nagris tore through swatches of the country, battering buildings, sinking boats and ripping down power and phone lines.

"We are shocked and saddened with the news of the tragic devastation wrought by a cyclone that killed almost 22,000 people, left 42,000 others still missing and up to one million left homeless," Gordon narrated.

Gordon continued that the country commiserates with the victims, their families, and with all the Myanmar people as they deal with the grave effects of the cyclone and as they endeavor to rebuild the communities that have been affected.

"We have been actively providing assistance not just in the Philippines but also to other countries struck by disasters and we are now rising to the call to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable and hope that the power of humanity will overcome the destruction caused by the calamity," he added

The PNRC started to become a donor society when it sent US$85,000 donation for the victims of tsunami that hit South and Southeast Asia in December 2004 and US$ 10,000 monetary assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina which slammed into America's Gulf Coast for several days causing overwhelming losses in lives and properties in September 2005.

The PNRC also sent off a 3-man team bound to Pakistan in October 2005 to lead the Southeast Asian Regional Delegation who help recover and relocate survivors of the devastating earthquake that hit South Asia.

"That was the first time that Filipinos led other Southeast Asian volunteers to help South Asia. We are glad that the PNRC can provide assistance to our brothers and sisters in South Asia. We are proud of these PNRC staff who are all highly trained in disaster response," said Gordon.

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