Northeast parts of island sink, Taal Volcano swollen —PHIVOLCS

The landscape of the Taal Volcano Island has changed amid the volcano's continued activity, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said on Monday.

PHIVOLCS officer-in-charge Undersecretary Renato Solidum said parts of the northeastern portion of Taal Volcano Island have sunk while the entire volcano has swelled.

"'Yung island medyo tumagilid nang kaunti habang itinutulak... Lubog 'yung ibang portions ng northeastern, malapit na po sa tubig, baka 'yung bahay mismo nasa tubig na," Solidum said at a press conference.

"Parang naitulak. Lalong lalo na ngayon, umaakyat 'yung panibagong batch ng magma. 'Yung sa southern edge ng Taal Lake, eh, nakaumbok po 'yun kaya nagkakaroon ng bitak," he added.

PHIVOLCS Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division chief Mariton Bornas said that the ground around the volcano is swollen except for that northeastern part.

"Namamaga ang buong bulkan, maliban lang po sa northeastern flank na bahagyang bumaba," Bornas said.

Barangay Tabla of Talisay town was specifically affected by the said submersion, according to PHIVOLCS Supervising Science Research Specialist Winchelle Sevilla.

The development was observed in the past few days through PHIVOLCS' aerial instruments, he added.

Other information such as the actual size of the affected area and the depth of submersion has yet to be studied as the volcano island remains off-limits.

Despite being a permanent danger zone, some locals still lived at the Taal Volcano Island.

"Bago pa sumabog, ilang taon na kaming sumisigaw na bawal ang tao doon," Solidum said.

Following Taal Volcano's initial eruption on January 12, thousands of residents from the island, the areas within the 14-kilometer radius from the main crater, and along the Pansipit River Valley had been advised to evacuate as these locations are susceptible to base surge and volcanic tsunami should a massive eruption occur.

President Rodrigo Duterte already approved the recommendation to declare the Taal Volcano Island as "no man's land," according to Interior Secretary Eduardo Año.

For safety purposes, evacuees from the danger zones are no longer allowed to visit their houses, check their belongings and feed the animals they have left behind.

Alert Level 4 remains raised over Taal Volcano for a week now as PHIVOLCS continue to record volcanic earthquakes and emission of sulfur dioxide—indicating possible continuous magmatic intrusion beneath the Taal edifice. —NB, GMA News