67 schools turned into evacuation centers

Evacuees stay at an evacuation center in Tanaun, Batangas province, southern Philippines on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020. Taal volcano is spewing ash half a mile high and trembling with earthquakes constantly as thousands of people flee villages darkened and blanketed by heavy ash. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

MANILA, Philippines — The number of public schools used to shelter evacuees fleeing restive Taal Volcano has climbed from just 14 on Monday morning to 67 schools by 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

The Department of Education (DepEd) said 2,081 families — and a total 16,785 individuals — were being housed in these schools in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region.

The families were spread throughout 191 classrooms in six of the region’s school divisions.

All the schools being used as evacuation centers were in Batangas province where the volcano, which had erupted ash and steam and gushed out lava, is located.

A DepEd report showed almost 60 percent of evacuated residents were at Bauan Technical High School and 7 percent at Madalunot Elementary School in Calaca.

Evacuees also fled to schools in nine Batangas municipalities — Alitagtag, Bauan, Balayan, Calaca, Nasugbu, San Jose, San Luis, Santo Tomas and Tanauan.—Matthew Reysio-Cruz