Minor quake recorded at Taal; alert level 2 stays

BATANGAS CITY, Philippines—Only one volcanic earthquake was recorded at Taal volcano over the last 24 hours but it was too early to say if the volcano was calming down, Taal’s resident volcanologist said Thursday.

The tremor has no intensity and the water temperature at the western sector inside the main crater lake slightly increased from 31.8 degree Celsius to 32 degree Celsius, according to a bulletin released Thursday by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Allan Loza, resident volcanologist for the Taal observatory, however said that although the water temperature went up, it had no significance to the previous findings on the volcano which indicated that it has become restive.

According to Loza, this was the first time that only one volcanic quake was recorded since the alert level at Taal volcano was raised from 1 to 2 this year but “it’s too early to tell na kumakalma na siya (that has calmed down),” added Loza.

He also stressed that the volcano’s activities from Wednesday to Thursday were not enough to lower the alert level.

Loza said they would still need to continue observing the volcano’s activities, pointing out that water temperature is also a key factor in deciding whether to lower or increase the alert level.