MANILA, Jan 20 (Reuters) - A restive volcano in the
Philippines has a high risk of eruption as it is "recharging"
with fresh magma and rising emissions of toxic gas, a top
scientist said on Monday, while authorities ordered commercial
establishments to stay shut.
Earthquakes were still happening at the Taal volcano, which
shot giant clouds of ash miles into the air on Jan. 12, and
levels of the gas were rising, a sign of magma "recharging" and
"resupplying" beneath it, a Philippine vulcanologist said.
"If it reaches the crater, it could cause a strong
explosion," Renato Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute
of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), told DZMM radio.
Authorities have thrown a 14-km (9-mile) exclusion zone
around the volcano, with experts saying an eruption could bring
a devastating rain of rocks and magma and unleash a tsunami in
the lake around it.
Several establishments reopened last week in the tourist
resort of Tagaytay after the volcano, 70 km (45 miles) from the
capital, Manila, had shown signs of calming, but authorities
urged them to heed orders to close.
"We asked them to cease operations so no tourists or locals
would be lured to that area," Epimaco Densing, an undersecretary
of the interior ministry, told reporters.
Just 311 meters (1,020 feet) high, Taal is one of the
world's smallest active volcanoes, but it can be deadly, having
killed more than 1,300 people in an eruption in 1911.
More than 100,000 people have abandoned homes around the
volcano and flocked to evacuation centres after it blanketed
homes, schools, and farms with ash. The education ministry said it was ready to send teachers to
run classes for more than 1 million students in nearby towns
after displaced people had to be accommodated in some schools.
No deaths have been reported and the volcano's impact has
proved just a blip for the $330-billion national economy,
despite cancelled flights and a day of work lost on Jan. 12
because of a heavy fall of ash in Manila.
Taal has erupted more than 30 times in the past five
centuries, most recently in 1977. The Philippines lies on the
"Ring of Fire", a belt of volcanoes girdling the Pacific Ocean
that is also prone to earthquakes.
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