U.S. Marines and Filipino troops load relief supplies at Villamor Air Base in Pasay, Philippines, Feb. 11, 2024. (Savannah Mesimer/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marines are delivering supplies to an island in the Philippines that’s been battered by monsoonal rains and landslides, the service announced Monday.
Members of the Okinawa-based III Marine Expeditionary Force are delivering meals to the southern island of Mindanao to “provide temporary relief” following heavy rainfall and a major landslide in the area, the command said in a news release.
“Support to our Allies and partners, and their people in a time of need, is non-negotiable,” III MEF’s commander, Lt. Gen. Roger Turner, said in the release.
Particularly hard hit is Masara in Davao de Oro province, a gold-mining mountain village where a landslide struck Feb. 6 following weeks of heavy rain, The Associated Press reported Thursday.
Philippine airmen unload equipment from a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J Super Hercules at Villamor Air Base in Pasay, Philippines, Feb. 11, 2024. (Savannah Mesimer/U.S. Marine Corps)
The landslide death toll reached 55 on Monday, with another 32 injured people recovered, the provincial government said in a Facebook post that day.
About 20 members of Marine Aircraft Group 12 at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, are delivering meals via two KC-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft, III MEF spokesman 1st Lt. Daniel Kim told Stars and Stripes by email Monday.
The supplies consist of about 15,000 family food packs provided by the Philippines’ Department of Social Welfare and Development.
“The Department of Defense is supporting the transportation and delivery of these relief supplies,” he said.
The Marines are working directly with the Philippine government and military to distribute the goods, and “are prepared to support relief efforts as long as required,” Kim said.
On Saturday, rescue efforts paused after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck 90 miles north of the landslide site; they resumed 30 minutes later after officials checked for signs of secondary landslides, the Manila Times reported that day.
The province is also recovering from a monsoon and other severe weather that’s displaced more than 320,000 people from their homes, with potentially 22 dead, 11 injured and two missing, according to the Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center.
The weather pattern began Jan. 28 and brought heavy rain through Feb. 3, causing massive flooding and rain-induced landslides in Davao de Oro and elsewhere on Mindanao, according to the center’s Monday report on the situation.
