MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang yesterday expressed sympathy for the victims of the magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Mexico, which has left more than 200 people dead.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Mexico, especially the bereaved families, who were hit and affected by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement.
Abella said the foreign affairs department is continuously monitoring the situation in the affected areas and is working closely with the Filipino community to check the situation.
There were no reports of Filipino fatalities as of yesterday, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The Philippine embassy in Mexico was able to check the condition of the 60-member Filipino community in Mexico City to make sure all are safe and accounted for.
“So far, the DFA said the embassy has not received reports of any Filipino casualty,” the DFA said.
The temblor sent a number of structures crumbling and left many others, including the building housing the Philippine embassy, badly damaged.
“The people of Mexico are again in our thoughts and prayers today,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement from New York where he is attending the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
“We offer our sympathies to the Mexican government and to those who lost their loved ones in this tragedy,” he said.
Ambassador Eduardo de Vega said he and most of the 11-member staff rushed out of the embassy when debris started falling from the walls and ceiling shortly after the earthquake struck.
The embassy occupies the first two floors of an eight-story office building in the Cuauhtemoc neighborhood near the city center.