Philippines begins evacuation as volcano danger level raised

(File photo) A phreatic explosion from the Taal volcano as seen from the town of Tagaytay in Cavite province, southwest of Manila, on January 12, 2020.

Authorities in the Philippines yesterday started evacuating thousands of people after the alert status was raised on a restive volcano that spewed a 1km high plume of gas and steam. The alert for the Taal volcano, about 70km south of central Manila, moved to level 3 from level 2 on the 5-level scale, which the seismology and volcanology agency said meant a “magmatic intrusion” at the main crater “could further drive succeeding eruptions”. Taal is one of the world’s smallest active volcanoes. Despite standing at only 1,020-foot, it can be deadly and an eruption in 1911 killed more than 1,300 people. In January last year, Taal shot a column of ash and steam as high as 15km into the sky, which forced more than 100,000 people to abandon their homes, widespread flight cancellations and heavy ash falls in Manila. While the situation could go either way, authorities yesterday warned that the type of eruption could potentially be more hazardous than that of last year. Water in Taal’s crater boiled before and after its eruption, a video posted on the Facebook page of the seismology agency showed. Magma made contact with the crater’s water, which then turned into gas and vapour, known as a phreatomagmatic eruption. “Phreatomagmatic is more dangerous because there’s already an interaction with magma,” Maria Antonia Bornas, chief of the agency’s monitoring and eruption prediction division, told a news conference. The towns of Agoncillo and Laurel, situated on the lake surrounding the Taal volcano, were in danger from eruption and volcanic tsunami, the seismology agency said. The national disaster bureau warned of eruption-related quakes. The evacuation of Agoncillo started late afternoon, Batangas provincial governor Hermilando Mandanas said, with 3,523 families or 14,495 people to be moved to safe areas.