In a previous email, I mentioned that the Philippines is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, that’s why they have a lot of active volcanoes there.
One of those active volcanoes, Taal, has been showing increased activity in the past week and a half. They’ve had 31 earthquakes and 9 small phreatomagmatic (both magmatic gases and steam from groundwater are expelled) eruptions in total. They’ve issued a ban on any aircraft flying close to the volcano, as well as boating and hiking on the island.
Hopefully, that’s the worst of it. But Philvolcs (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology) and the news outlets there are keeping a close eye on it because the volcanic activity is increasing. Also, Taal has a history of being really destructive despite its small size.
Back in January 2020, it caused an ashfall that affected most of Metro Manila and nearby provinces. There were several casualties and damaged powerlines due to limited visibility and the amount of ash that fell on the area.
It was bad and affected quite a few people on my team, as well as thousands of other OFS. I got a lot of emails from people saying they couldn’t work because they couldn’t breathe.
It hasn’t happened again…but I’m just warning you that it could.
John