Philippines concerned over UN staff in quake-hit Haiti

Wednesday, January 13, 2010
MANILA (AFP) - – The Philippines said Wednesday it was concerned over the safety of its 179 peacekeepers in Haiti who could not be contacted after a massvie quake destroyed the UN headquarters there.
"The Philippine mission to the UN in New York is trying to establish contact with the Philippine contingent in the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti," foreign department spokesman Ed Malaya told AFP.
"The Philippines has not yet been able to establish contact with Lieutenant-Colonel Lope Dagoy, their commanding officer," he said, adding that neither had the UN.
A total of 157 soldiers and 22 policemen are serving with the UN force in Haiti, Malaya said.
"Of course we are very much concerned," Malaya said when asked if the government feared for the safety of the Filipino soldiers and police in the mission.
An earthquake measuring 7.0 rocked the Caribbean nation of Haiti on Tuesday, toppling buildings and triggering fears that hundreds had been killed.
The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti was reduced to rubble in the quake.
Alain Leroy, the head of the UN department of peacekeeping operations, which oversees the world body's various missions around the world, said "a large number of personnel remain unaccounted for" in Haiti following the quake.
The Philippines does not have a resident diplomatic mission in Port au Prince and Malaya said he was not aware if there were other Filipinos living in Haiti.