The Taal volcano, located 70 kilometers from Manila, spewed out a column of ash 600 meters high on Tuesday.a “minor” emission framed in a period of increasing volcanic activity but which is not expected to evolve into a magma eruption, according to Philippine authorities.
The dark cloud of ash and steam emerged at 5:58 local time (21:58 GMT) “and subsequently rose to 2,800 meters above the island of Taal Volcano before floating in a west-southwest direction,” the agency said in a statement. Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
A camera located at an observation center captured the sudden appearance of the column, which Phivolcs said was “probably caused by the sudden contact of water with a small batch of shallow magma that has been under the main crater of Taal”.
The government agency maintains an alert level of 1 of a maximum of five on the volcano, so it is currently not permitted to visit the volcano island or fly over the area, but “it is unlikely” that a major magma eruption will occur.
About 311 meters high, the relatively small Taal is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and has erupted 33 times since 1572. It is also responsible for some of the deadliest eruptions, causing about 1,300 deaths in 1911 and 200 in 1965. In 2022, authorities had to evacuate hundreds of people from the area due to the expulsion of gas and steam from the Taal, which was placed on level 3 alert.
But the Philippines, which sits on the so-called ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, is the scene of an area of great seismic and volcanic activity. Last September, hundreds of people were evacuated on the central island of Negros due to the increasing activity of the Kanlaon volcano.
