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People sort through the rubble of a collapsed building in Mandalay on April 5, 2025, following the March 28 earthquake. The shallow 7.7-magnitude earthquake on March 28 flattened buildings across Myanmar, killing more than 3,000 people and making thousands more homeless.
AFP / Zaw Htun
MANILA, Philippines — One of four Filipinos missing after last month's devastating Myanmar earthquake has been found dead, the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Wednesday, April 9.
"The remains of one of the four missing Filipinos in Mandalay have been positively identified," the DFA said in a statement released on Wednesday. The department withheld further details, citing the family's privacy during their time of grief.
Though officials did not disclose the victim's identity, Alvin Aragon confirmed in a social media post Wednesday morning that his brother Francis had passed away — days after their family awaited updates from rescue and recovery operations in Myanmar.
"We would like to inform everyone that our brother has been found, and though it is painful for us to accept, he is now with the Lord. We are currently mourning and grieving the loss of our youngest brother," Aragon said in a Facebook post.
DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said the government is still searching for the three other Filipinos who remained unaccounted for following the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck central Myanmar on March 28.
A team from the National Bureau of Investigation has been helping identify victims in Mandalay by comparing DNA samples from recovered remains with those provided by families of the missing.
The death toll from the earthquake has reached 3,645, according to Myanmar-based news outlet Myanmar Now.
The United Nations estimates that over three million people have been affected by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar, many now homeless as the crisis compounds existing hardships from the country's four-year civil war.
Even ten days after the initial tremors, thousands remain in makeshift camps across the affected regions, afraid to return to damaged structures as aftershocks continue. Those whose homes still stand often sleep outdoors, fearing sudden collapses that claimed so many lives in the quake's immediate aftermath.
— with reports by Agence France-Presse
