Philippines looks for safer homes for volcano residents.
Catholic priest Armando Timojo, right blesses images of the baby Jesus after a mass to celebrate it's feast day at an evacuation center near Taal volcano in Tagaytay, Cavite province, southern Philippines on Sunday Jan.19, 2020. Taal volcano continued to emit plumes of smoke on Sunday, following nearly seven days of activity that have displaced massive numbers of villagers.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said officials in Batangas province, where the volcano is located, have been asked to look for a safer housing area, at least 3 hectares in size, for about 6,000 families that used to live in four villages and worked mostly as tourist guides, farmers and fish pen operators on Volcano Island. The new housing site should be at least 17 kilometers away from the restive volcano to be safe, he said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has approved a recommendation for the island to be turned into a “no man’s land,” but he has yet to issue formal guidelines. After an initial visit last week, Duterte plans to return to hard-hit Batangas province on Monday to check conditions of displaced villagers, Ano said.
Taal left more than 200 people dead in a powerful 1965 eruption, then again exploded in 1977. Officials of the government institute said they began issuing advisories about Taal's renewed restiveness as early as March last year, helping local officials prepare and evacuate thousands of villagers rapidly from Volcano Island hours before the volcano erupted thunderously.
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