MANILA, Philippines - Philippine peacekeepers are taking part in efforts to rescue United Nations staff after massive quake in Haiti destroyed UN mission headquarters in the capital, an official said Wednesday.

"We were told by the UN they were first on scene of the collapsed UN headquarters," Elmer Cato, spokesman for the Philippine mission to the United Nations, told reporters from New York.

Cato said he did not have any reports of possible Filipino casualties following the 7.0 magnitude quake in the impoverished Caribbean nation, which toppled buildings and triggered fears that hundreds had been killed.

The foreign ministry in Manila had said earlier it was concerned for the safety of its 179 military and police peacekeepers in Haiti after failing to reach them following the quake.

Cato said the Filipino peacekeepers were based in a building across the street from the headquarters of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which was reduced to rubble.

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.

The Philippines does not have a resident diplomatic mission in Port au Prince and foreign ministry spokesman Ed Malaya said he was not aware if there were other Filipinos living in Haiti.