BATANGAS CITY – Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas has mobilized virtually all the local government employees down to the barangay level as the number of evacuees continue to swell amid the mandatory evacuation being implemented to clear the 14-kilometer danger zone of the rumbling Taal Volcano.
As of Saturday morning, a total of 162,178 people from 37,186 families have been moved out of their homes and transferred to nearly 500 evacuation centers in Batangas, Laguna, Cavite and Quezon.
The number of evacuees are expected to continuously increase in the coming days since the objective is to clear the 14-kilometer danger zone radius which is feared to be within the striking distance of the lateral explosion, or base surge, of the Taal Volcano which happened in the past.
Base surges, according to the United States Geological Service, are ring-shaped cloud of gas and suspended solid debris that moves radially outward at high velocity from the base of a vertical eruption column.
In its 14 recorded eruption since 1641, at least six of them include base surges – the most devastating were the 1911 and 1965 eruptions.
Based on the initial data of the Batangas Provincial Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), at least 300,000 residents from two cities and 12 towns near Taal Volcano will have to be evacuated in order to secure them from possible base surges.
Mandanas said that he had already directed all city and town mayors of Batangas province to tap the services of barangay health workers and nutrition scholars, Day Care workers, and even the parent-leaders to assist in taking care of the evacuees.
“They were instructed to be involved in the disaster operations continuously being conducted for evacuees in their respective areas,” said Mandanas.
There are more than 400 evacuation centers in Batangas province. Thousands of evacuees were also accommodated in the towns and cities of Laguna, Cavite and Quezon provinces which are near the boundary of Batangas.
Mandanas said that the mandatory evacuation will continue until such time that the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) would lower the alert level over the Taal Volcano.
State volcanologists earlier said that while the Taal Volcano has been showing signs of tranquility in the past few days, there are still activities under the volcano like unfelt tremors and accumulation of magma.
This is the reason, according to them, why fissures and drying of portions of some rivers near the volcano are being observed.
The PDRRMO of Batangas earlier said that they are preparing for a three-month contingency for the evacuees. (Aaron Recuenco)
