Taal Volcano erupted!!

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Taal Volcano is the world's smallest volcano, sitting in a lake in an island (Volcano Island), within a lake (Taal Lake) surrounded by an island (Luzon). Tourists looking at Taal Island from Tagaytay City typically mistake Binintiang Malaki as the main crater; but in fact, Binintiang Malaki is dormant and used to be the active crater in the 18th century eruptions.


This year, Taal Volcano took centre stage when it erupted on January 12, after more than two decades of seismic activity. It's the first time I've seen it erupt because it's last explosion was in 1977... way before I was born. It's fascinating to watch from a distance (watching on the telly) but I'm sure that it must be terrifying for the people living on the island and along the coast. Livelihoods disrupted; tourists and buildings literally shook by the frequent earthquakes; ecosystems changed.

Phreatic eruption of Taal Volcano, 12 January 2020 (reduced).gif
By Buszmail - This file was derived from:  Phreatic eruption of Taal Volcano, 12 January 2020.webm, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Joys was in Tagaytay when the volcano erupted and was stranded there because the ash fall lowered visibility enough to prevent her evacuation. Kuya Jun-jun said that they were okay in Alitagtag despite the proximity to the volcano because the wind directed the ash away from where he and his family live. Mark, hailing from Lemery, was able to evacuate; Lemery had a lot of earthquakes strong enough to create fissures on the road.

Fortunately, Taal Volcano quieted down as January closed. Life will rapidly go back to normal, in my opinion. There might be some lag time for the lake's aquaculture industry to recover, though, leading to a temporary shortage of the popular Taal tilapia.

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