‘After deadline, defiant residents are on their own’

BATANGAS, Philippines — Police officials said that residents who violate the 14-kilometer danger zone around the restive Taal Volcano and return to their villages at the end of a 48-hour deadline to vacate the area will be on their own.

Batangas police director Col. Edwin Quilates said yesterday they will no longer conduct rescue operations in the event of another volcanic eruption.

“If worse comes to worst ay we’ll no longer rescue within the 14-kilometer radius,” he told radio station dzMM.

Quilates said this was the specific instruction of Calabarzon police director Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr., as they also want to ensure the safety of the more than 500 policemen securing the periphery of the danger zone.

At least 200 residents were forcibly evacuated from the area that covers 12 towns and two cities.

Police officials did not give an estimate on how many residents re-entered the danger zone, but they said only a few people have remained inside the hazard area.

After the deadline lapsed at 5 p.m. yesterday, the policemen were relocated to 30 security control points along main roads at the outer edges of the danger zone to prevent people from getting inside the locked down villages.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa said their reserve force of 3,000 policemen is ready to come in to give the police officers in Batangas a rest.

There are about 13,000 police officers currently deployed in the province.

Eruption

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) yesterday said that despite a decrease in Taal Volcano’s sulfur dioxide emission as well as fewer volcanic earthquakes recorded recently, a hazardous eruption is still possible.

Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said Taal Volcano remains active and they are carefully monitoring its condition, including what will happen in the next few days.

Alert Level 4 remains in effect over the volcano. This means that hazardous explosive eruption is possible within hours to days.

He said they would immediately provide updates or the latest evaluation of the situation to decision makers, concerned local government units and other government agencies.

Phivolcs said the magma has moved up near the surface, and that there is still a 30 percent probability of Taal Volcano erupting.

Solidum, however, cautioned that this probability is still “high,” especially for those within the 14-kilometer danger zone.

“The probabilities may still change anytime,” he added.

Solidum said they are looking at monitoring parameters and they give these much consideration.

“Since the time we are able to recover data from Taal Volcano, we started to calculate probabilities and, based on the trend of the parameters, chances of eruption can either go up or lessen,” said Mariton Bornas, chief of Phivolcs Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division. “However, we are now waiting as to what will happen next, given the magma that accumulated and went up the surface.”

Bornas stressed that the series of volcanic earthquakes and fissuring observed in several towns of Batangas after Taal Volcano’s initial eruption on Jan. 12 indicate that magma indeed has moved up to the surface.              

Activity in the main crater in the past 24 hours has been characterized by weak to moderate emission of white steam-laden plumes 50 to 500 meters high from the main crater that drifted southwest. Sulfur dioxide emission was measured at an average of 141 tons/day.

The Philippine Seismic Network (PSN) plotted a total of 731 volcanic earthquakes since Jan. 12. Since 5 a.m. on Jan. 22 until 5 a.m. yesterday, there were six volcanic earthquakes plotted.

For the past 24 hours, the Taal Volcano Network, which can record small earthquakes undetectable by the PSN, recorded 467 volcanic earthquakes, including eight of low frequency. Such intense activity likely signifies continuous magmatic intrusion beneath the Taal edifice, which may lead to further eruptive activity. – With Rhodina Villanueva, Rainier Allan Ronda, Jaime Laude

“It should be maintained that no one should stay in Volcano Island, in areas where there is high risk of base surge and those covered by the 14-kilometer danger zone,” Solidum said.

Office of Civil Defense administrator Ricardo Jalad said there are almost 2,000 soldiers and 105 military vehicles, two floating assets and two air assets deployed in areas affected by Taal Volcano to help in relief operations and the evacuation of residents.

Jalad said the PNP has deployed 1,835 members of Search and Rescue units while the National Capital Regional Police and Regional Police Office-4A have assigned 1,655 policemen to secure the various evacuation centers.

Facing sanitation problems at the main evacuation center at Poblacion 3 in Sto. Tomas town, soldiers are now building temporary comfort rooms as well as in Barangay Luta del Sur in Malvar town.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Fire Protection as of yesterday has 1,319 personnel, 210 firetrucks, six rescue hazmat trucks and 17 ambulances deployed in affected areas.

The Department of Health, along with foreign non-government organizations, has organized and conducted WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Rapid Assessment in the provinces of Batangas, Cavite and Laguna.

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is looking at harnessing the volcanic ash being spewed out by Taal Volcano.

Eric Paringit, executive director of DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development, has approved a research and development initiative to study the composition and characteristics of the volcanic ash.

“We want to characterize the volcanic ash... The purpose is, we want to know the essential characteristics and the composition of the ash, and the contents if there’s silica, iron. When we know its characteristics, we can determine the best uses for it,” he pointed out.

The latest eruption of Taal had caused ashfall over Calabarzon, Metro Manila and as far as Central Luzon that lasted until Jan. 13. 

Paringit noted that there are already ongoing efforts to collect the volcanic ash and use this to manufacture bricks.