On the afternoon of January 12, just after lunch, the Taal volcano in Batangas erupted. According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, it was a phreatic eruption, causing the volcano to spew steam and large amounts of ash reaching neighboring towns and provinces. PHIVOLCS raised the Taal Alert Level to level 4.
Places nearest the volcano were covered in ash, destroying homes and belongings and posing health threats to those exposed.
Residents were advised to evacuate immediately, fleeing to relatively safer, neighboring towns, either in schools and churches which served as evacuation centers, or to private homes of relatives and even some concerned individuals.
A week after the eruption, many evacuees were still in want of supplies, some of them even walking to far distances to ask for donations and essential relief.
Hermelinda, a resident of Cultihan, Taal, Batangas, lamented the scarcity of relief that reached them.
She and a companion had to walk from Cuenca, where they were temporarily staying with some relatives, to Lipa to ask for relief goods.
“Mahirap po talaga ang nangyari sa amin. Hindi po namin alam kung saan kami pupunta,” she said.
[What happened to us was really difficult. We did not know where to turn.]
Due to the lack of government aid, many concerned residents and people’s organizations took it upon themselves to collect donations and distribute them to those affected.
Hermelinda arrived at the Our Mother of Perpetual Help Shrine in Lipa, where she found volunteers of Serve the People Corps gathering and repacking donations that they will distribute to those affected by the Taal eruption.
The Redemptorist Missionaries have also opened their church facilities to some evacuees from Lemery and other towns already on lockdown. Along with Army Relief Mobile Kitchen and their volunteers, the religious and lay missionaries in the church prepare hot meals for the victims.
Hermelinda is thankful for good Samaritans like the STPC volunteers, ARMK and the Redemptorists, but she is somehow apprehensive as well of the days to come. The volcano still threatens to erupt and her family and thousands others affected have somehow put their lives on hold.
As of writing, the alert level for Taal volcano has been lowered to level 3, since the volcano still showed signs of activity, and magma movement could still be detected underground.
She is anxious as well with the reliability and promptness of receiving the help they need in these trying times for as long as this situation drags on and with the security of rehabilitation of their homes and livelihood—things the people expect the government to be responsible for.
