A Taal volcano eruption has a special memory to me. I was a junior reporter at the defunct Manila Chronicle at the time. At the time I wanted to prove that I had the courage to see the eruption at close hand, so when I volunteered to go to Taal with the ‘strong’ men I got a snicker and a laugh. Oh, all right they said after much discussion. You can come but you have to stay at the shore of the lake. It is too dangerous and they gave me horror stories of what could happen. They said the lake was bottomless and if you fall off you are gone forever. That was scary but I insisted in going. If I can fall into the water so would any of them.
There were still sparks from the eruption. As a child my grandmother told me stories of how the church in Calaca quite a distance from the volcano was half buried. At the time its destruction was visible and remained as such for many years. (It has now been rebuilt). An eruption of Taal volcano was something to fear. I don’t think nor have I been told that there was such a thing then as Phivolcs with experts who study volcanoes. In my grandmother’s time they made stories up of premonitions observing the behavior of animals to tell them when there was an impending eruption. That made me even more curious to see the volcano itself and make the perilous journey on Lake Taal.
The province of Batangas is known for its many churches and Catholics visit these for the Visita Iglesia on Holy Thursday. I saw a picture of the Calaca Church when it was submerged by lava and ash. Called San Rafael it is regarded as the patron of the sick, especially of the blind or those afflicted with eye illnesses. He is also the patron saint of Calaca, a town in Batangas established May 10, 1835. It was originally part of Balayan. Six years after Calaca was established, Diego Inumerable, the gobernadorcillo or governor of Calaca, deemed that the town was ready for its own parish church. He had the church of St. Raphael the Archangel built, with the help of Calaca’s elite parishioners.
“The interior of the church follows the typical cruciform layout of religious buildings. The domed apse features depictions of the gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in oval trompe l’oeil frames on each corner. The church was rebuilt by the parishioners of Calaca. They volunteered to gather the materials needed for the church’s construction: sand, stone, wood. These were brought to Balayan through the Pansipit River to the shore of Calaca, which borders the southern part of the town. From the shore, the people hauled the materials to the church. The roof is made of wood and hard stone bricks, while the walls are made of adobe, limestone and sand. It was completed in 1861, marking the official status of Calaca as a parokya (parish).
Then there is also the Basilica de San Martin de Tours, Taal’s colossal landmark, is as wide as a 15-story building is tall. Built atop elevated ground, fronting the town plaza and overlooking nearby Balayan Bay, it was designed by Spanish architect Don Luciano Oliver with two belfries, which crashed to the ground in April 1942 during a strong earthquake.
This quaint town in Batangas bears the name of the smallest active volcano in the world, and is home to the largest Catholic church in Asia. For these reasons and others besides, the town has been described as “a town of superlatives.”
Reconstruction began on the left belfry in the early 1990s, but the result caused much uproar among the parishioners and heritage lovers, as the shape was too narrow and the dome looked like a milk bottle’s nipple. Two years later, the new belfry’s walls were thickened and its roof widened to make it look more like the original. The second belfry was not reinstated, probably because the coral stone structure of the Basilica would not be able to support the weight of a second dome made with dense modern cement. (Sourced from Bluprint Omega.com)
“Volcanoes erupt when molten rock called magma rises to the surface. Magma is formed when the earth’s mantle melts. ... Runny magma erupts through openings or vents in the earth’s crust before flowing onto its surface as lava. If magma is thick, gas bubbles cannot easily escape and pressure builds up as the magma rises.
A volcanic eruption is not a tragedy in itself. Tragedy strikes when people and animals get caught in it. But I heard most people who live in the vicinity of Taal volcano which erupted this week are safe because they managed to evacuate on time. Of course there could be more explosions that could be fatal to both humans and animals. Indeed, I read that this is a sign that a massive eruption could still happen and could be catastrophic. If that’s the case, then there could be tragic consequences.” (Sourced from government website on environment.)
As of this writing Phivolcs has not yet lifted the level 4 warning which means that there could be a bigger eruption coming from this small volcano.