MANILA – It has been more than two weeks since the Taal Volcano erupted that left thousands of people in Batangas displaced.
Many celebrities have already begun doing their part in reaching out to the evacuees, and now artists in the local music industry are getting together for a fundraising concert.
“Tulong Taal: A Musical Collaboration for Taal Rehabilitation” will be held at the Cuneta Astrodome on Saturday, February 1.
According to website PEP, the concert was a brainchild of veteran composer Vehnee Saturno, who likewise composed the song “Tulong Taal” after the calamity struck.
The song was interpreted by a group of singers including Ice Seguerra, Isay Alvarez, Kakai Bautista, Robert Seña, Frenchie Dy, The Company, Poppert Bernadas, Ebe Dancel, Jaya, Aicelle Santos, Bayang Barrios and Angeline Quinto.
“The music video aims to inspire ang mga kababayang Batangueño at mga Pilipino. We hope to generate fund from this which will also go to funds for Tulong Taal,” Alvarez told PEP.
All the singers involved are hoping that with their upcoming fundraising concert, help may be extended to more displaced families in Batangas.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANILA - A Philippine-based Syrian travel vlogger spent hours to cook meals for Taal evacuees.
Basel, who goes by "The Hungry Syrian Wanderer" on social media, shared a photos of him preparing food for the evacuees.
In his caption, Basel said he cooked a thousand pieces of chicken wings and Chicken Kabsa. He will then go around Batangas to distribute the meals.
"My first time ever to cook 1,103 pcs of Chicken Wings in ONE GO! (I really counted so I'm aware of the packed meals I'll be distributing today. 😊) and made Chicken Kabsa, a famous Syrian dish (very similar to Chiken Biryani, if familiar). Topped with nuts, cashew, (didnt find pistachios) etc.I added dates na din hehe. Not exactly complete ingredients but very close and did my best to finish 5 rounds of big giant kawa!" he said in the caption.
Basel also shared it took him 7 hours to cook and 4 hours to pack everything.
" I never cooked before I left Syria, so my mom would be so proud once she sees this haha. Shout out to my mama, eto na po yung anak nyong puro kain lang at walang alam sa pagluluto dati 😂" he also wrote.
Aside from distributing meals, he has also distributed relief goods to people in remote areas near the volcano, which he shared in a recent vlog.
A self-proclaimed "adopted son of the Philippines," Basel said he moved to the Philippines 7 years ago when war broke out in Syria.
The vlogger is known for his humanitarian work. Last year he bought 1,000 blankets, tents for Mindanao quake victims.
He also bought rice from local farmers who were suffering from low rice prices, and gave the grains to the quake victims.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANILA – The Taal Volcano is still erupting but its activity has gone weaker than in previous days, according to the country's chief seismologist on Wednesday.
But how long the eruptions would last depends on the speed of the rise of magma.
Phivolcs executive director Renato Solidum said Wednesday they still record a lot of earthquakes at the Taal volcano and its general area, and many of these temblors have been felt.
"These can be interpreted as magma intruding from beneath the volcano causing fissures to move, causing earthquakes and also lifting off the ground. Hence, if these magma would continue to rise there can still be further activity related to the current situation," Solidum said on ANC's Headstart.
Solidum cannot exactly tell how long Taal's eruptions will be as he said the volcano has exhibited various styles of eruptions in the past, lasting from a few days to several months.
In 1911, Solidum said the eruption lasted for only 3 to 4 days. In 1965, it lasted for a month and in 1754, the eruption continued on for around 7 months.
"These would be dependent on the ascent of the magma, how fast it would move up or whether the magma would stop moving. As we try to analyze this we rely on 2 things: the earthquakes and deformation on the ground," he explained.
He said volcanoes have different styles and speeds of eruption and precursors. Taal’s behavior, he said, could go from having precursors and not erupting to having precursors and then erupting within several days to several weeks.
“When any volcano would erupt, it has to show signs of the activities escalating. However, that volcano did not accelerate its activity and in fact even half a day or a day before there were no significant earthquake events or even maybe 12 or 6 hours before, if you look at seismic record, there was no record,” he said.
The volcano’s activity accelerated in a span of around 6 hours, prompting Phivolcs to immediately raise its alert level.
In comparison, Mount Pinatubo, which erupted in 1991, recorded activity that signaled its destructive eruption on June 15 of that year.
There were quakes that March, phreatic eruptions a month later, steam emissions in May, and then a small ash emission prior to its major eruption.
“You can see clearly the big difference in the timing and sequence of the events versus what happened last Sunday,” he said.
Solidum said Phivolcs, the local government, and disaster management teams have been preparing for the possibility of Taal's hazardous eruption.
"The explosive eruption scenario, and this is the scenario we have been preparing for together with the Batangas Provincial Risk Reduction [and] Management Office, is still possible simply because of the fact that we still have a lot of earthquakes and ground deformation within the area," he said.
Sunday's activity initially started as a phreatic eruption. When the crater was depressurized, he said magma suddenly rose and produced more eruptions turning it into a phreatomagmatic eruption.
"The highest eruption column that we saw was around 10 to 15 kilometers last Sunday, late afternoon and evening, and for many volcanoes that would really be considered hazardous," he said.
Lava fountaining was observed by early Monday morning, resulting in a magmatic eruption.
While it was hazardous, Phivolcs said they have not yet seen pyroclastic density currents or the flow of rocks and ash down the slope of the volcano or even horizontally-moving out of the crater towards the lake.
"That is what we call a hazardous volcanic eruption when Taal would exhibit not only tall eruption columns, but horizontally-moving clouds more than 60 kilometers per hour that even reach the mainland and cross above the water," he said.
Thousands of residents were evacuated after the volcano spewed ash and destroyed homes, plants, and animals on Sunday.
"If the volcano would rapidly increase in activity then there will be additional evacuation and that has happened. Unfortunately the volcano changed its condition very rapidly," he said.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANILA – Only 30 out of the estimated 3,000 horses on Taal Volcano island have so far been rescued, an animal welfare group said Tuesday night.
In a Facebook post, the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) said the owners of the horses took action upon learning that "the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) will no longer evacuate the horses and that animal rescuers were not being allowed to go to the island."
"Wala namang maasahan so kami na lang (We were not expecting any rescue, so we did it ourselves)," one of them was quoted as saying by the animal welfare group.
According to PAWS, the owners of the stranded horses "took turns using three to four wooden boats and rowed over 50 kms" to transport them to Balete, Batangas.
"PAWS found the group after doing its feeding rounds for the affected dogs, cats and cattle in Talisay," added the group, which called for donations and financial assistance for the animals.
Meanwhile, three members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) rescue team have been stranded on the volcano island since Wednesday morning.
"I think they were trying to rescue the animals pero naiwan po sila, kung sino man po iyong nagdala sa kanila doon (but they were left behind by the people who brought them there)," Anna Cabrera, executive director of PAWS, said in a radio interview.
Cabrera also urged the Philippine Coast Guard to save the three-man rescue team.
Veterinarians have been reminding the public to bring animals in areas affected by ashfall indoors as these can bring health risks such as eye damage and respiratory problems.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
