Press Release
May 23, 2008

GORDON LEADS RP RELIEF TEAM TO MYANMAR

Straight from attending the 17th Governing Board Meeting of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva, Switzerland, PNRC Chairman Senator Richard J. Gordon will head directly to Yangoon, Myanmar to lead the Philippine delegation in the ASEAN-UN International Pledging Conference for thousands of cyclone victims on May 25.

"Even as our own country comes to grips with the aftermath of typhoon Cosme, we must count ourselves fortunate that we are still in a position to help disaster victims in Myanmar and China. I can't even begin to imagine how our own country would fare if we suffered a calamity of the magnitude that hit Myanmar and China, the Ginsaugon landslide and the 1990 Killer Quake might not be a suitable comparison," said Gordon.

The mission to Myanmar was made possible through the combined efforts of Gordon, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and Party List Representative Carissa O. Coscolluela. After speaking with IFRC President Juan Manuel Suarez del Toro, the whole international community will be able to help in Myanmar through the ASEAN Red Cross.

"We are coming to Myanmar to help as much as we can and more importantly, learn as much as we can from the truly tragic disasters that have befallen our neighboring countries. Nevertheless, the Myanmar Cyclone disaster and the earthquake in China underscores the very urgent need for our countrymen and our government to prepare for such disasters," said Gordon who recently filed a bill on Disaster preparedness.

Previously, on May 9, 2008 Gordon sent off the first two members of a three man PNRC disaster assessment team to Myanmar where they will lend their expertise in disaster management, particularly in the areas of relief goods distribution and water sanitation. He personally sent off Nenita Briones, PNRC Cotabato Chapter Administrator, and Edwin Tatalagsa, PNRC Davao Chapter Disaster Management Service at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Both have been part of Red Cross regional disaster response teams in Pakistan under the International Federeation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). A third member of the PNRC assessment team, Evelyn Lacsina, will join up with Briones and Tatalagsa in Myanmar. Lacsina has been to Myanmar in previous Red Cross missions.

PNRC also offered to help China in the rescue and in extracting people buried under the debris after powerful earthquake struck mainland China May 12, 2008. In his letter to Chinese Ambassador to Manila Song Tao, Gordon offered to send China a rescue truck complete with the equipment capable of extracting people buried under debris, as well as doctors, nurses and other emergency personnel. Gordon further filed a Resolution expressing sympathy to the Chinese people carried by the Senate.

The PNRC started to become a donor society under Gordon 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.

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