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Taal Volcano: desperate residents seize on ‘lull’ in eruption despite danger
- Volcanic activity at Taal has ‘generally waned to weak emission of steam-laden plumes’
- But there have been more than 100 tremors since Wednesday, indicating that magma is still rising
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The threat of the Taal Volcano unleashing a potentially catastrophic eruption on Thursday remained high, as Philippine authorities warned it was showing dangerous signs despite a “lull” in spewing ash.
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, volcanic activity at Taal had “generally waned to weak emission of steam-laden plumes”.
Even so, it had recorded more than 100 tremors since Wednesday, meaning magma was still rising. Scores of earthquakes were still rattling the region daily and large fissures were opening up in the ground.
Some residents took advantage of the perceived lull in volcanic activity to return home, even though a 14km exclusion zone remained in place.
“We are analysing what this seeming calm of the volcano means,” said Maria Antonia Bornas, chief science research specialist at Phivolcs.
The lake inside Taal had dried up, Bornas said, which was to be expected since it began spewing lava fountains a day after it shot giant clouds of ash miles into the air on Sunday.
More than 53,000 residents had abandoned their homes around Taal to take shelter in evacuation centres, but thousands more were refusing to leave or had already drifted back to check on their animals, farms and possessions.
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