Philippines braces for another Taal volcano eruption

Manila: Philippine authorities on Monday maintained the alert level for the Taal volcano, which entered its second week of eruption amid risks of a lava explosion, though smoke and ash emissions have diminished.

Renato Sodium, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), said that although the volcano seemed calm, underground volcanic activity shows the opposite, so the alert level, set on January 12, remains at 4 out of 5, reports Efe news.

Taal is a small 311-meter high volcano, which forms an island in the middle of a lake of the same name.

The eruption risk has forced the evacuation of all territories within 14 km around the volcano.

In eight days of the eruption, more than 215,000 people have been evacuated, of which 112,700 are in one of the 416 evacuation centers enabled in public buildings.

The government is looking for the land of about three hectares located at least 17 km away from the volcano to relocate the inhabitants, who mainly worked as tourist guides, raising horses to take visitors to the volcano crater, which was a popular tourist destination. (IANS)

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