In the Philippines’ Batangas province, the Taal volcano spread lava and covered the surrounding area with a layer of gray ash.
Authorities have claimed a major eruption in the future and have ordered the removal of people within 8.7 miles of the volcano’s danger zone. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), around 38,000 people have been sent to 75 evacuation centers.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has anticipated that new fissures near the volcano and an increase in volcanic earthquakes are possible.
“Such intense seismic activity probably signifies continuous magmatic intrusion beneath the Taal edifice, which may lead to further eruptive activity,” the institute said.
“On a timescale much longer than the threat of a hurricane, something else could happen that’s even bigger,” says Jenni Barclay,
“This is a volcano to be taken seriously,” says Beth Bartel, an outreach specialist at UNAVCO, a geoscientific consortium of universities and scientific institutions.
“When I saw yesterday that Taal was in eruption,” Bartel says,” I was somewhat horrified.”
“It’s all in God’s hands now,” Leonita Gonzales, 52, who fled with the rest of her household from the danger zone around Taal, told Reuters. “We are not sure if we will have a home to return to.”
“If anybody defied orders and stayed behind, he would have been killed without a doubt,” he said.
Gonzales and Morales are among nearly 44,000 people who have fled the 9-mile “danger zone” around the volcano, an area that is home to some half-million people.
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