By Neil Jerome Morales
SANTO TOMAS, Philippines, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The fine ash
drifting into the school gym on gusts of wind is a constant
reminder for evacuees in the Philippines of the volcano that
threatens to bury their homes forever.
As they sit in the spaces fenced in by the few bags and
boxes of belongings they could carry, evacuees wonder how long
they will have to wait to know whether Taal volcano will
devastate the region or sputter back to sleep.
"It's all in God's hands now. We are not sure if we will
have a home to return to," said Leonita Gonzales, 52, who fled
with the rest of her household from the danger zone around Taal.
Her banana palms were destroyed by the ash that fell after
the volcano started to gush smoke on Sunday. She is uncertain
whether her home's tin roof will be able to bear the weight
either.
Nearly 44,000 people have fled the 14km (nine mile) danger
zone around Taal, where volcanologists have warned a devastating
eruption could rain rocks and magma and set off a tsunami from
the lake in which the volcano sits.
On Tuesday, more than 1,100 evacuees packed into the gym and
classrooms at the state university at the Santo Tomas town, some
20 km (12 miles) northeast of where Taal continues to puff
clouds of ash and steam through old and new fissures.
Occasional tremors signalled the forces rumbling beneath the
earth and set hearts pounding.
"Don't tell me you're brave. When disaster strikes, you will
call on all saints, big or small," said Obet Dionglay, 61, who
had trekked through roads deep with ash to seek refuge.
CRUSHED
Dionglay's hut had been crushed by bamboos bent to the
ground by the weight of the ash and he had little hope that his
three pigs and dozen chickens would survive.
Dionglay recalled Taal's last eruption in 1977, when his
hometown of Talisay had escaped largely unscathed.
Although Taal is one of the world's smallest active
volcanoes only 311 metres (1,020-foot) high, it can be deadly:
an eruption killed more than 1,300 people in 1911.
At the evacuation centre, a couple of dozen kids kept busy
with an impromptu dance class.
A delivery of water gave some people a chance to wash the
grit from their bodies for the first time in days, but many
complained of a lack of sleeping mats, blankets, toiletries and
face masks despite generous private donations.
"For now, we endure, we live with nothing," said Ferdinand
Paderan, 39, who evacuated with his wife and two children.
But even as thousands more people were being evacuated from
the danger zone, some defied official warnings to head back in
to collect belongings or tend livestock that they could not
bring out.
"I went home and checked it. It's a good thing no one
stopped our tricycle on the way home. I fed the chickens and the
dogs," said Leonel Gonzales, 32, a tourist guide at Taal Lake,
who fled with his one-year-old daughter and pregnant wife.
"We will stay here to make sure we are all safe. We will
check on the pets again when the volcano calms down."
(Editing by Matthew Tostevin and Lincoln Feast.)