Evacuation from Taal Island starts, 1373 people move out

It's time to take a safety precaution for whatever may happen in the place where Taal Volcano is just kilometers away.

More residents have decided to leave Taal’s Volcano Island amid the continuing restive state of the volcano, an official of the provincial government said Saturday.

A total of 232 families or 1,373 persons have so far evacuated to the mainland towns of San Nicolas, Balete and Mataas na Kahoy, or about double the number of the families who had initially left the island since Alert Level 2 was hoisted on April 9.

At least 20 volcanic quakes were recorded by the seismic network on Saturday morning but the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said there was no reason yet to raise the alert further. .

Under Alert Level 2, the local government cannot implement a forced evacuation but provincial information officer Ginette Segismundo said many residents have opted to leave the island to ensure their safety in case an eruption becomes imminent. The island is supposed to be a permanent danger zone.

Of the about 5,000 residents of the island, those who decided to evacuate are mostly staying with relatives: 190 families or 1,209 persons in San Nicolas; and 30 families or 112 persons in Balete and Mataas na Kahoy.

Only 12 families or 52 persons are staying at the designated evacuation center on the second floor of the public market in San Nicolas town, she added.

But many of the adults of these families leave only at night as they have to go fishing on the lake for a living, or tend to their vegetable farms and livestock during the day.

“They go back to the island during daytime and return to the mainland at nighttime,” she said.

Should Taal volcano’s situation worsen, however, officials have designated 53 evacuation centers that could house up to 10,648 persons, said Segismundo.

There are a total of 4,715 persons living on the island, from five villages belonging to three different municipalities.

These are the villages of Tabla and San Isidro of Talisay ; the villages of Alas-as and Pulang Bato of San Nicolas and the village of Calawit of Balete.

Agoncillo town, on the mainland, has two villages (population 5,095) that might also be at risk should Taal Volcano erupt because these two areas are within a seven-kilometer radius of the volcano.

Also within a 10-km radius of the volcano are 11 mainland villages in the municipalities of Laurel, Cuenca, Mataas na Kahoy and the cities of Lipa and Tanauan, with a total population of 19,450.

source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions

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