PHL to offer aid to quake-hit Nepal - GMA News

(Updated 2:26 p.m.) The Philippine government will offer aid to Nepal in the wake of the powerful earthquake that hit the country over the weekend.

At a press briefing on Monday, presidential spokesman Secretary Edwin Lacierda said the government "will be communicating with our counterparts in Nepal" to determine how the Philippines can help those affected by the earthquake.

"We are prepared to, and consequently taking steps to, render aid to the maximum of our limitations," Lacierda said.

He added that a team from the Philippine embassy in New Delhi, India is also traveling to Nepal to meet the needs of Filipinos there.

A 7.9-magnitude quake hit Nepal Saturday. The death toll has so far been pegged at more than 3,200.

None of the 200 Filipinos currently in Nepal were killed or hurt after the powerful quake, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported on Sunday.

PNoy extends sympathy at ASEAN Summit

Earlier in the day, President Benigno Aquino III extended sympathy to those affected by the powerful quake in Nepal when he spoke at the 26th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia.

“President Aquino expressed the Filipino people’s solidarity with the Nepalese people in the aftermath of the strong earthquake that killed and hurt thousands over the weekend,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a separate statement.

He added that Aquino, along with other ASEAN leaders, pledged "support for the alleviation of the unfolding humanitarian crisis” in the Himalayan nation.

Lacierda, for his part, also expressed "sorrow and concern” for those affected by the earthquake.

"In this time of great loss, Nepal is not alone. We are confident that, with the help of the entire world, they will be able to overcome this calamity,” the President’s spokesman said. —JJ/KG, GMA News

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