Phivolcs: Taal’s activity should drop for two weeks before alert level is lowered

CNN – Published Jul 2, 2021 1:22:56 PM

Metro Manila — There should be a steady decline in the volcanic activities for two weeks before the government seismology agency downgrades the alert level of the Taal Volcano, an official said Friday.

“If there is a downward trend and we see it really continues, we look at two weeks window when we lower the alert level. That’s the procedure that we follow,” Phivolcs chief Renato Solidum told CNN Philippines’ The Source.

This means it remains unclear when Taal evacuees could return to their homes. The evacuees cannot return home in the next two weeks, at least.

A phreatomagmatic eruption on Thursday afternoon — when Taal ejected a dark grayish plume that rose 1,000 meters — prompted Phivolcs to raise the status of Taal to Alert Level 3, and recommend the evacuation of residents from high-risk areas in Batangas.

Authorities in the towns of Agoncillo and Laurel started evacuating residents from the affected villages following Taal’s unrest. The high-risk areas are Bilibinwang and Banyaga in Agoncillo and Boso-Boso, Gulod, and eastern Bugaan East in Laurel, Solidum said.

Around 317 families or 1,282 residents from high-risk areas were evacuated due to the threat of another explosion, Lito Castro, head of the Batangas Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, told CNN Philippines’ New Day earlier on Friday.

The Calabarzon office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development is on heightened alert and has kept stockpiles of relief goods amounting to P1.4 million and non-food items worth P11 million, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Friday in a statement.

He added government forces are also ready to assist in evacuation and relief efforts.

SOURCE: https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/7/2/Phivolcs-Taal-Volcano-alert-level.html?fb