Local governments in Batangas are already preparing evacuation centers for residents who may be affected in case the Taal volcano erupts again.
The towns of San Pascual, Bauan, and Batangas City will be the selected hotspots in case residents living in the towns around the Taal volcano need to evacuate.
According to Rod de la Roca of the Batangas City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, they will not just accept evacuees from the towns that may be affected because they still need to follow health protocols as the number of COVID-19 cases increases.
Those to be evacuated will first be taken to the Batangas Sports Complex and will serve as a staging area where they will first go through medical treatment.
In case they show symptoms or test positive for COVID-19 they go straight to the isolation facility.
That is why Batangas City only received 6,500 evacuees to comply with minimum health protocols such as physical distancing for their school with only 600 classrooms.
Batangas officials are scheduled to have a dialogue Wednesday morning to discuss what to do.
Batangas City is also asking the towns that will evacuate their residents to submit a master list to know immediately how many families will be evacuated and where to take them.
Taal remains under Alert Level 2
In the past 24-hour period, the Taal Volcano Network recorded fifty-one (51) volcanic earthquakes, including forty-one (41) episodes of volcanic tremor having durations of one (1) to four (4) minutes.
Activity at the Main Crater consisted of weak emission of steam-laden plumes from fumarolic vents that rose 5 meters high. Temperature highs of 71.8°C and pH of 1.59 were last measured from the Main Crater Lake respectively on 04 March and 12 February 2021.
Ground deformation parameters from electronic tilt, continuous GPS and InSAR data analysis indicated a very slow and steady inflation and expansion of the Taal region since after the January 2020 eruption.
Alert Level 2 (Increased Unrest) is maintained over Taal Volcano. DOST-PHIVOLCS reminds the public that at Alert Level 2, sudden steam-driven or phreatic explosions, volcanic earthquakes, minor ashfall, and lethal accumulations or expulsions of volcanic gas can occur and threaten areas within the Taal Volcano Island (TVI).