A soldier in the Army Reserves has swapped Marlow for Manila as he works with communities in the Philippines on their response in the event of an earthquake in the region.

Logistics expert Major Mike Keighley has flown to the country to as part of army exercise Civil Bridge, which studies best practice in disaster relief.

His trip has been given extra significance after a rescue effort got underway this weekend 4000km away in Nepal, where a devastating earthquake is estimated to have killed around 3000 people.

However, Major Keighley would not travel to Nepal if the British army was deployed there, with his team stationed in the Philippines to work on preparedness before such major events.

The part-time Marlow soldier, whose day job is director of College Operations at Brunel University, serves in the army as an expert in south east Asia.

An army reservist for 28 years, he has also served in Fiji, Iraq and Bosnia.

He said: “My visit to The Philippines has been very useful in giving me first hand cultural context as to how the Philippines Armed Forces operates at a time when Britain is developing closer links with this very important nation."

Civil Bridge is part of a series of British Army missions around the world. Major Keighley is part of a team of experts in the region studying the best and most effective response to earthquakes.

The Philippines has a long history of dealing with major quakes, including as recently as 2013 when tremors recorded at 7.2 on the Richter Scale killed over 200 people.