Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 9)— The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Tuesday raised the status of Taal Volcano from Alert Level 1 to Alert Level 2, saying it has been showing signs of “increased unrest.”
In an advisory, Phivolcs explained that since February 13 the volcano has been displaying increased activities on the following parameters: volcanic earthquakes, changes in the main crater lake, ground deformation, and “microgravity changes.”
Mariton Bornas, the institute’s Volcano Monitoring chief, labeled the past month as a “period of restlessness” for the volcano, noting that authorities have recorded 28 volcanic tremors and four low-frequency volcanic earthquakes in the past 24 hours alone.
“There have been days that the tremor lasted for hours, almost a day,” Bornas said in an interview with The Source, adding that the energy of these tremors have gotten stronger.
Alert Level 2 means that there is probable magmatic activity that may or may not lead to an eruption, according to Phivolcs. Evacuation is not yet recommended, it added.
Despite this recommendation, Phivolcs advised local government units to continuously monitor nearby areas of Taal Lake “to strengthen preparedness, contingency, and communication measures in case of renewed unrest.”
The institute also reminded the public that Taal Volcano Island is a Permanent Danger Zone and that entry into the island, especially to the vicinities of the Main Crater and the Daang Kastila fissure, must remain strictly prohibited.
‘No large magma involved’
Bornas said that evacuation was not recommended for now since experts are not seeing indicators that a large amount of magma is involved.
“Yung ground deformation napaka-slight niya eh, so walang malaking volume ng magma na napapa-alis sa Taal. Hindi siya katulad nung 2020 [eruption],” Bornas explained. “So if this unrest will ever proceed to an eruption, what we are thinking of is that it will be a minor one.”
[Translation: There is only a very slight ground deformation, so there’s not a large volume of magma that could be extracted from Taal. So it’s not similar to that of the 2020 eruption.]
She added the activities are happening at the shallow portion of the volcano.
“We’re talking about material that was already in place o umakyat na noon pang nag-erupt ‘yung bulkan, naiwan (or those that just rose from when the volcano erupted, those left behind,” she said.
Taal reached Alert Level 4 in January 2020 as the volcano located in Batangas province spewed out lava in its past eruption. Nearby cities and towns were covered with ash, while thousands of residents were displaced due to the threat of an explosive eruption.
Phivolcs said it is monitoring the Taal situation 24/7.
