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Taal Volcano: 82,000 displaced in Philippines as danger zones become ‘ghost towns’
- The erupting volcano has also caused some US$11 million in losses for farmers in surrounding provinces, as tourists stay away
- Experts say it is difficult to predict how long the volcano could remain at the current heightened level of activity
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Two people have died from heart attack while fleeing from an erupting volcano in the Philippines which has displaced more than 82,000 people, officials said on Wednesday.
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Taal Volcano in Batangas province, 66 kilometres (40 miles) south of Manila, started sporadically expelling ash on Sunday and has continued spewing kilometre-high plumes of ash and debris. Some 40,000 people have taken refuge in refugee shelters since.
The victims, from the towns of Talisay and Taal in Batangas, were a 65-year-old woman who suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday, and a 27-year-old man who died on Tuesday, the provincial disaster risk reduction office said.
Police earlier said a truck driver died on Monday in nearby Laguna province when he lost control of his vehicle due to lack of visibility caused by heavy ash fall.
The ash fall from the eruption is very thick and some areas now look like deserts or ghost towns.
Emergency teams, including police and soldiers, were deployed on Wednesday to ensure residents were leaving high-risk areas, amid reports that thousands were staying put or returning to their homes and livestock, despite a police lockdown on towns near the volcano.
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