Taal’s main crater off limits as alert level raised

SAN PEDRO CITY — The main crater of Taal Volcano in Batangas province was closed to the public after an alert status was raised over the active volcano on Thursday.

But Ricardo Ceda, a Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) science aide at the Taal Observatory said this should not be a cause for alarm just yet.

“So far, we have only recorded abnormal activities of Taal (volcano),” he said in a phone interview Friday.

Phivolcs on Thursday raised the alert level from 0 to 1 after it recorded a series of earthquakes since March 22.

Ceda said they have recorded at least 50 volcanic earthquakes since.

The main Taal crater, in the middle of Taal lake, was responsible for the destructive eruptions in 1749, 1754, 1911, and 1965. The Taal caldera has 40 craters and spans about 25 kilometers in diameter.

Phivolcs officer-in-charge and Undersecretary Renato Solidum, Jr., in February, said a major eruption in recent years may affect 100,000 to 200,000 people in Batangas and adjacent provinces and trigger an ash fall that could reach Metro Manila./lzb