The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Friday cited a weak steaming from fissure along the Daang Kastila trail, or the mountain trail leading to the main crater ridge of Taal Volcano in Batangas, in the past 24 hours.
In its 8 a.m. bulletin Friday, Phivolcs said there was a moderate emission of white to dirty white steam-laden plumes rising 200 meters to 300 meters height before drifting southwest.
Sulfur dioxide emission, however, was “again below instrumental detection due to weak plume activity,” it said.
The Taal Volcano Network was able to record 118 volcanic earthquakes, including five low-frequency events and one harmonic tremor that lasted less than three minutes.
Phivolcs under the Department of Science and Technology maintained Alert Level 3 over Taal Volcano.
Despite its calmness, Taal Volcano could still generate sudden steam-driven and even weak phreatomagmatic explosions, volcanic earthquakes, ash fall and lethal volcanic gas expulsions and threaten areas with the volcano.
Meanwhile, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development is readying some 5,448 housing units to be given to families residing within the seven-kilometer radius danger zone near the restive volcano.
House Settlements Secretary Eduardo del Rosario said the National Housing Authority was working on the repair of the houses and the installation of electricity and water connection.
He said some 187 families had occupied the housing units in one of the project sites in Ibaan, Batangas.
“The President will be giving these house units for free, in full grant and the occupants are not going to pay anything upon the transfer,” Del Rosario said, adding that the rehabilitation of some units would be done within one to two months.
Some 5,000-6,000 households near the danger zone are affected, he added.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said residents living within Taal Volcano’s danger zone would be permanently relocated to the unoccupied housing units originally allotted for military and police personnel.
Del Rosario said a team from both national and regional offices of DHSUD and NHA, along with local officials of Batangas, is working to establish a mechanism for the resettlement of the residents, particularly those living on Taal Volcano Island and in the municipalities of Talisay, Agoncillo, and Laurel.
He said only those qualified internally displaced families can avail of the housing units.
In related developments, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said on Friday the damage to agriculture and infrastructure caused by Taal Volcano’s eruption on Jan. 12 had so far amounted to P3.4 billion.
The damage was incurred in the provinces of Batangas, Cavite, and Laguna.
This is slightly higher than the P3.3 billion the NDRRMC reported on Thursday.
The number of families affected by the eruption has now reached 133,696 or 501,908 persons in Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, and Quezon.
The NDRRMC also reported that the Taal Volcano Network had plotted a total 2,172 volcanic earthquakes as of 7:32 p.m. Thursday.