Philippines evacuates thousands after Taal Volcano eruption
- Taal’s alert status was moved to level 3 on the 5-level scale after it spewed kilometre-high plume of gas and steam
- The towns of Agoncillo and Laurel, situated on the lake surrounding the volcano, were in danger from eruption, the seismology agency said
Taal is one of the world’s smallest active volcanoes. Despite standing at only 311 metres, it can be deadly and an eruption in 1911 killed more than 1,300 people.
In January last year, Taal shot a column of ash and steam as high as 15km into the sky, which forced more than 100,000 people to abandon their homes, widespread flight cancellations and heavy ash falls in Manila.
While the situation could go either way, authorities on Thursday warned that the type of eruption could potentially be more hazardous than that of last year.
Water in Taal’s crater boiled before and after its eruption, a video posted on the Facebook page of the seismology agency showed.
Magma made contact with the crater’s water, which then turned into gas and vapour, known as a phreatomagmatic eruption.
