Taal Volcano: as Philippines races to evacuate residents, some decide to stay home
- With an eruption imminent, officials are racing against time to evacuate people living near the volcano, but some residents are staying put
- Meanwhile, stocks of face masks in Manila have run low, prompting one official to suggest that people should fashion their own using undergarments
Philippine police on Tuesday placed a lockdown on towns near the erupting Taal Volcano to prevent residents from returning, as thousands fled for refugee centres, braving roads turned grey with ashfall and leaving behind their homes, farms and animals.
Everyone living within 14km (7 miles) of the volcano has been ordered to leave, with the disaster agency saying some 38,200 people had been evacuated, although local officials complained some residents were complicating the effort by staying put.
New cracks in the ground appeared near the volcano in Batangas province, 65km (40 miles) south of Manila – a sign magma could be rising from underground, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said on Tuesday, warning a massive eruption remained possible within hours or days.
One evacuee in the capital, who asked to be identified as Roxanne May, said she fled her hometown of Lemery, where “earthquakes have been continuous, there are cracks on the roads, even inside the houses”.
“Ash is all over the house and the roads are thick with ash; when it rained last night it turned into thick mud,” said May, who had worked as a nurse abroad.
“It’s the first time I’ve experienced this. The ash is everywhere and I have a two-year-old son, so I decided to go to safety,” May said.
