For a time, people in Batangas
and neighboring areas of Luzon, including Metro Manila somewhat, lived in an
atmosphere of concern and fear since January 12. That was the day when the “little
volcano that really could,” Taal, erupted in a massive column of steam and ash
that blanketed the lake island where it is situated and much of its
surroundings. The national volcanology institute PHIVOLCS warned that such intense
activity could herald a great explosive eruption, setting a penultimate high
alert level and trying to keep evacuees from returning so soon. Over a month
later, those fears could be dying down with Taal Volcano.
GMA News has it that the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and
Seismology (PHIVOLCS) has now put Taal Volcano at the lowest danger level for
eruption yet, ever since its big blow-up last month. The agency has measured a
consistent decrease in activity at the volcano island in the middle of Taal
Lake in Batangas, ranging from a lowering of the number of volcanic quakes, to
the thinning out of steam and ash emissions, to the settling of the earth
indicating that the magma underneath has begun to settle back down.
To that end, PHIVOLCS has
downgraded Taal to Alert Level 2 in light of its decreasing level of unrest,
down from Alert Level 3 last January 26, which was itself a downgrade from the
worrying Alert Level 4 of the first week of eruption, with Level 5 possibly
having been raised if the forecast explosive eruption ever came to pass. With
only 127 volcanic quakes recorded from the last high of 141, and the lowering
or subsidence of ground level from the Taal caldera and the Pansipit River
outlet to the sea, state volcanologists believe it may only be a matter of time
before the Alert Level downgrades to 1.
That said, PHIVOLCS also warns
local residents that the lower alert levels do not mean a return to dormancy
for Taal, which along with Mayon further east in Bicol are among the most
active volcanoes in the Philippines. That means a threat of eruption will
always be constant. While residents of the communities surrounding the
lakeshore of Taal Lake have already returned from their evacuationin order to
start fixing up their homes and businesses, Volcano Island remains a designated
permanent danger zone, with lake-based Coast Guard patrols still dissuading any
attempt to go back there. About P3.4 billion worth in damages were estimated from
the latest eruption of Taal, the bulk of which took place only a week but
monitored for much longer than that.
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