Cavite to conduct evacuation simulation exercise to better prepare for Taal Volcano eruption

LUCENA CITY – Several towns in Cavite province that provided safe refuge to throngs of evacuees when Taal Volcano erupted last year will conduct an evacuation simulation exercise on March 15 to better prepare for the possibility of another eruption.

“This is part of the joint preparation of Cavite and Batangas province on how to face all exigencies in case of Taal volcano eruption,” the Provincial Information and Communication Affairs Department (Picad Cavite) said Saturday, March 13, in a post on its Facebook page on the mass evacuation simulation activity.

The public should not be alarmed during the exercise, it added.

Alert Level 2 is still up over Taal Volcano as the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported Sunday morning, March 14, that 74 volcanic earthquakes and 46 volcanic tremor episodes, having durations of one to four minutes, were recorded in the area in the last 24 hours.

On March 9, the state volcanologists raised the alert status, indicating increasing unrest in the country’s second most active volcano. The country’s most active volcano is Mount Mayon in Albay province.

Taal had been on Alert Level 1, or abnormal status, since March 19, 2020. Since Feb. 15, authorities have been conducting extra monitoring on the volcano after it showed renewed unrest.

But despite the heightened alert, evacuation is not yet recommended, although Phivolcs said magma activity in the volcano “may or may not” lead to an eruption.

Phivolcs advised local governments to assess previously evacuated barangays around Taal Lake for road damage and accessibility and to strengthen preparedness, contingency and communication measures in case of renewed unrest.

More than 52,000 evacuees from Batangas sought temporary shelters in different towns in Cavite when Taal erupted in January last year.

On March 2, local chief executives from several municipalities from Batangas and Cavite met in Tagaytay City to prepare the Taal volcano eruption evacuation plan.

According to evacuation plans, evacuees from Laurel town would be sent to Alfonso, Cavite. Talisay residents in Batangas would be moved to the Cavite towns of Silang and Indang. Those from Agoncillo in Batangas would be evacuated to Mendez town in Cavite and Tagaytay City. Those from Lemery, Batangas would be sheltered in the Cavite towns of Magallanes, General Emilio Aguinaldo, Amadeo, and Tagaytay City.