About 8,000 families that were displaced by Taal Volcano’s eruption will receive housing units previously allotted to the military and police forces.
This was after President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendation of Human Settlements Secretary Eduardo del Rosario on Tuesday night.
The 5,448 housing units for the Taal victims are in Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, and Quezon, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said.
The permanent shelters were initially provided for the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, but President Duterte approved the recommendation to grant it instead to the Taal victims, Panelo said.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology cited a lower sulfur dioxide emission and fewer volcanic earthquakes in Taal Volcano in the past 24 hours.
In its 8 a.m. bulletin on Wednesday, Phivolcs noted a weak emission of steam-laden plumes 50 meters to 100 meters tall that drifted southwest.
The Sulfur dioxide emission was measured at an average of 55 tons per day compared to the Feb. 3-Feb. 4 observation of an increased emission at an average of 232 tons per day.
The Taal Volcano Network was able to record 156 volcanic earthquakes, including two low-frequency events and 18 harmonic tremors having durations of one to three minutes.
“These earthquakes signify magmatic activity beneath the Taal edifice that could lead to eruptive activity at the main crater,” Phivolcs said.
During the 46th Cabinet meeting, Del Rosario said the 5,000 to 6,000 households living within the seven-kilometer radius from Taal volcano were affected by its eruption.
Meanwhile, 2,000 families were living on Taal island itself.
The government had previously ordered that no one should live on Taal island since people’s lives would be at risk from a “more violent” explosion.
Taal emitted clouds of thick ash and steam on Jan. 12, forcing more than 300,000 people to leave their homes.
Duterte has asked Congress to speed up the passage of the P30-billion supplemental budget to aid the displaced residents living near Taal Volcano. With Rio N. Araja
