Disaster response teams from the Philippine Army’s 5th and 7th Infantry Divisions joined other government and private sector responders in helping quake victims and clearing landslide-hit key roads following the magnitude-7 tremor that shook Northern Luzon on the morning of July 27, 2022.
54th Infantry Battalion troops and one squad of CAFGU Active Auxiliary rescued stranded patients aboard an ambulance at Sitio Balawa, Barangay Liwon, Asipulo, Ifugao. The patients were promptly brought back to the Rural Health Unit of Barangay Antipolo, Asipulo, Ifugao.
Meanwhile, 71st Infantry Battalion troops provided assistance and conducted rescue operations for residents of Barangay Poblacion Norte, Lidlidda, Ilocos Sur. Army engineers from the 548th Engineer Battalion likewise cleared debris that blocked the Naguilian Road in La Union while the 72nd Division Reconnaissance Company helped evacuate village folk in coastal barangays of Santa Lucia, Ilocos Sur.
The 5th Infantry Division likewise launched deployed disaster response units and assets to assist in the national government-led efforts for quake victims in Cordillera and Cagayan Valley.
Army units in Ilocos Region, Cordillera, and Cagayan Valley augmented their standby search, rescue and retrieval teams as the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the possibility of aftershocks.
Army Commanding General Lt. Gen. Romeo S. Brawner, Jr., meanwhile commended the Army’s servant-soldiers for their decisive disaster response and assistance to quake victims. “Rest assured that the Philippine Army — in close coordination with national government agencies, local government units, and private sector partners — will work ‘round the clock to assist our fellow countrymen in quake-hit communities,” the Army Chief remarked.