Govt struggles vs defiant evacuees

Credit to Author: Catherine S. Valente, TMT| Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 16:31:02 +0000

TALISAY CITY, Batangas: Some 40,000 people have been evacuated but thousands more are still refusing to leave or have returned home in areas threatened by a feared massive eruption of Taal Volcano, according to authorities.

Police subsequently set up no-go zones and mandatory evacuations after Taal ejected gray ash and hot steam on Sunday.

But days later, affected residents were losing patience and demanding access, even as the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) warned that the volcano could unleash a more powerful eruption at any time.

Melvin Casilao said he and his neighbors in the town of Talisay, Batangas needed to feed their livestock, remove the thick ash from their roofs and pull their boats from the water.

Their community is on the shore of a vast lake that rings Taal, a popular tourist attraction despite being one of the nation’s most active volcanoes.

“We want to visit our houses and clean the roofs. They are smothered in thick ash and they could collapse,” Casilao told Agence France-Presse.

A man who also defied official warnings about the ongoing eruption to sneak back to the island to check on his pigs says there is complete devastation.

“Almost everything was destroyed,” Christian Morales told The Associated Press (AP), saying he was only able to get his bearings after seeing the cross of a mud-encrusted Catholic church where he used to hear Mass.

“If anybody defied orders and stayed behind, he would have been killed without a doubt,” he added.

Morales, the pig farmer, said it would probably take years for those on the island to rebuild their lives, but they should be allowed to do so.

He added that he was less concerned about himself as he lives on the mainland and also earns money taking visitors on boat tours.

Morales said there were many others who lost their homes, farms and boats.

“I really pity them. They have nowhere to go.”

Soldiers have been deployed at checkpoints in some areas, including Talisay, with police officer Sarah Jane Saballa saying, “It’s for the safety of the residents.”

People around Taal had to leave at a moment’s notice, so many fled with just the clothes on their back.

As the volcano had calmed slightly in the past 24 hours and is spewing less ash, the temptation to return has grown.

Seismologists have noted a string of earthquakes and fissures opening up in roads, indicating magma is still on the move and Taal remains very dangerous.

Some areas, however, have made concessions, allowing people in for short periods, despite the risks.

“These are residents appealing to us to allow them to feed their pets,” Gerry Malipon, San Nicolas town police chief, said.

“But after they’ve fed them, they will have to leave as soon as possible,” he added.

‘Permanent danger zone’

So far, no one has been reported killed in the eruption, but the disaster is spotlighting the longstanding dilemma of how the government can move settlements away from danger zones threatened by volcanoes, landslides, floods and typhoons in one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

Sometimes, as is the case with Taal, the settlements are in violation of laws that have not been enforced.

“It’s an accident waiting to happen,” Renato Solidum Jr., head of Phivolcs, said of the villages on the island.

Solidum added that his agency had repeatedly warned against living on the island, which it has declared a permanent danger zone where people are forbidden from setting up homes.

The area was also in the 1960s declared a government-protected area and later a national park, meaning it should be off-limits to permanent settlers.

But that has never been enforced, and Taal’s destructive explosions proved deadly in the past, including a 1965 eruption that killed more than 200 people and ravaged the island’s villages.

Nevertheless, poverty, a lack of land and desperation have driven people over the years to the island despite the danger, according to Gerry Natanauan, the mayor of Talisay town who has jurisdiction over two of the four island villages.

“It may be difficult to declare the island a no man’s land because like in the past, when that was attempted, it was hard to stop people because when they go hungry, they will always find a way,” Natanauan told AP.

Another driving factor keeping people on Taal is tourism.

The picturesque island and surrounding region, which sit in Batangas province and are known for their idyllic views, pine trees and cooler climate, have become a major draw for those seeking a quick escape from the pollution-choked capital.

Areas overlooking the 62,000-hectare lake and volcano island, which has its own crater lake, have turned into boom towns of hotels, restaurants and spas.

Visitors can go on tours by boat and horseback, hike trails with sweeping views and hire guides to take them bird watching.

“It’s quiet and clean and there is no trouble and traffic,” Natanauan said. “When you’re able to climb to the peak, it’s really like paradise when you see the entire island with its swarms of birds.”

Many of those living on Taal have found work in the industry; Natanauan estimated tourism brings P16 million in revenue each year to those on the island.

Solidum said perhaps a compromise could be reached in which villagers were allowed to travel to the island during the day to work as tourist guides and tend to farms and then return to their new mainland homes before nightfall.

Natanauan said that would be hard to enforce because the islanders would be wary of leaving their farms unguarded and would eventually stay for good on the island again.

Set in the center of a picturesque lake, Taal is one of the most active volcanoes in the Philippines with an eruption record of 34 times in the past five centuries.

Taal Volcano is currently on Alert Level 4 for the third day, which means that a violent eruption may happen within hours or days.

‘Weaker activity’

But despite Taal Volcano’s weaker activity, Phivolcs said a hazardous explosive eruption was still expected.

“Ang sinasabi namin, generally, ‘mas mahina’ sa mga nakaraang araw (What we are saying is, generally, there will be a weaker activity compared to the previous days),”Solidum said in a radio interview.

He added that he could see danger if cloud seeding will be enforced even if this may help wash down ashes in the affected areas.

“That will be converted to sediment-laden flood flows. If it is with so much solid [materials], it can become lahar. So, there is danger also,” Solidum said on Wednesday in ABS-CBN’s “Headstart” interview.

He earlier described Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd’s cloud-seeding proposal as a “good idea” but it needs to be studied.

Ma. Antonia Bornas, head of the Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division of Phivolcs, said cracks on the ground were also observed in several towns.

Bornas pointed out that these fissures signified continuous magmatic intrusion beneath the volcano, citing one that appeared on the road connecting the towns of Agoncillo and Laurel.

“Such intense seismic activity probably signifies continuous magmatic intrusion beneath the Taal edifice, which may lead to further eruptive activity,” Phivolcs said.

The agency recorded a total of 159 volcanic earthquakes since Tuesday until 5 a.m.
Wednesday, according to the Philippine Seismic Network.

The tremors, with intensities ranging from 1 to 3, were felt in the towns of Agoncillo and Laurel in Batangas on Wednesday morning.

Residents around Taal are advised to guard against the effects of heavy and prolonged ashfall.

Phivolcs reiterated the total evacuation of the volcano island and high-risk areas within the 14-kilometer radius from the Taal main crater.

‘No man’s land’

On Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendation to declare the Taal Volcano Island a “No man’s land.”

“As of this moment, Taal Volcano continues to be on the Alert Level 4. Medyo wala munang babalik doon hangggat hindi makakalma (No one is allowed to return until it has calmed down),” Duterte said during a briefing in Batangas.

“Nobody is allowed to go back until such time that you are safe,” the President added.

Prior to this, Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato de la Peña recommended the total evacuation of people in the affected areas and enforcement of a “no-human settlement policy on Taal island,” part of the 14-kilometer danger zone declared after the volcano exploded.

“They’re just following the recommendations and they are all approved… I approved [them] because they were good for the people,” the President said.

Also on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana insisted that many people might get killed if the government would not implement the “total evacuation” and “no man’s land” policy.

“You (Duterte) have approved a recommendation a while ago, I believe that we should, I strongly believe, recommend that we strictly implement the suggestion or the recommendation that Taal Island will be declared no man’s land,” Lorenzana said.

“Pagka babalik ‘yung tao dun (When people return there and) if there will be another explosion or violent, I think all people will perish on the island,” he added.

Duterte underscored disaster preparedness among government agencies as the core of ensuring less or zero casualties.

“We will have to depend heavily on… I know you cannot make projections unless there is an activity there which can be seen visually or it manifests itself into fumes,” the President said.

“This is an issue of public order and security and an issue of health. So those are… functions of government, to come up with measures to protect public interest, public safety, public health,” he added.

Duterte vowed that the government would continue to assist the communities affected by Taal’s ash explosion.

“I am here to help the people affected by the eruption. I will do everything to help people to return to normalcy,” he said. “The first thing you should do if there’s a crisis is get back to normalcy immediately.”

The President also called again for the construction of more durable evacuation centers.

“Before I go, we must be able to build evacuation centers. If there is enough money in the GAA (General Appropriations Act) in the calamity [fund]… especially in provinces that are facing the Pacific Ocean. They are the windows of the Philippines in terms of typhoons and calamities,” Duterte said.

“You build a very strong evacuation center. [Not] as strong as the Titanic and then saying that even God cannot sink the ship because God will really destroy your evacuation center,” he added.

Duterte said the evacuation centers must be able to withstand even the strongest of earthquakes.

Inside the evacuation centers, he also suggested constructing bathrooms, separating the shower room from the toilet.

“Do not place the shower and toilet in the same… you’ll be wasting something like the human kinetic movement,” the President said.

“Kasi ‘pag may naligo, hindi magamit tapos maligo ka may tumae mabaho na then you feel uncomfortable (When someone takes a bath, it can’t be used. Then when you take a bath and someone defecates, it’s going to smell bad and you feel uncomfortable),” he added.

‘Pyroclastic surge’

Meanwhile, experts warned that a possible “base surges” of ash that contain hot gases and rock fragments that Taal Volcano might throw out if hazardous eruption occurred could right away destroy areas near the island.

Taal Volcano Observatory Officer in Charge Paolo Reniva said the threats from the pyroclastic density currents could emerge over the volcano’s 14-kilometer radius from the main crater.

“Ang base surges po ‘yung pyroclastic flow na tatawid ng Taal Lake… Ito ay posibleng mangyari kapag itinaas na natin sa Alert Level 5 ang status ng Taal (The pyroclastic surge will cross Taal Lake. This is possible if we raise alert status to 5 over Taal),” Reniva told GMA’s “Unang Balita” program.

He said they would traverse around 7 to 10 kilometers from the volcano down to the nearby communities at a speed of “80 kilometers per hour.”

Reniva added that the base surges could generate volcanic tsunamis that will swamp the lake’s shorelines.

These base surges “can sandblast everything in their path, including the lake shore on the other side,” according to expert Beth Bartel from Unavco, a non-profit university-governed consortium that facilitates geoscience research.

To understand what this unpredictable “hazardous eruption” might bring to us, experts said these possible surges if Taal would burst anytime soon could damage agriculture, infrastructure, cut communications, damage property, pollute water supplies, and worse, kill off people and animals near the island.

In its 5 p.m. bulletin, Phivolcs said Taal Volcano’s activity was characterized by continuous but generally weaker eruption of the main crater.

New fissures were observed in Sambal Ibaba, Lemery.

Dried-up up of portions of Pansipit River were also seen, Phivolcs said.

The main crater lake was drained and new vent craters were formed inside the main crater and on the north flank of the volcano, it added.

AFP WITH REPORTS FROM AP, FRANZ LEWIN EMBUDO AND CATHERINE S. VALENTE

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