Worrisome increase in activity

Mother Nature has been quite busy with the country these past few days. While the country is no stranger to natural occurrences, successive events did take place. First, we had the threat of a supertyphoon cutting across the northern part of Luzon. Thankfully the howler swerved northward totally avoiding Luzon. We did feel the fringes of it in the form of rain. Soon after another strong typhoon mercifully spared the country, but it currently is bringing a lot of rain. This is good in the sense our dams are filling up after the hot summer season. A check at the Angat Dam level shows an increase. We may be seeing more typhoons coming our way as the wet season is surely upon us. At least the weather has cooled down.

Then we have the volcanoes. The first to show signs of activity was Taal Volcano in Tagaytay. Last week, an increase in activity was monitored. A degassing activity where tons of sulfur dioxide were emitted, prompted officials to raise an alert level 1 condition. Residents in nearby areas are experiencing respiratory ailments due to the smog. The second to show increased activity is the most beautiful volcano in the world, Mayon. Mayon has always been active and the residents living near it are already used to small volcanic tremors and emissions. But a heightened activity has prompted officials to raise an alert level 3 and initiate an evacuation of residents in Camalig, Albay. An eruption may happen as rockfalls and seismic activity have increased. As of this writing, Mayon is already in an eruptive phase.

The third volcano to wake up is Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Occidental. Increased activity and emissions may be pointing to an eruption. It is likewise under alert level 1. Monitoring is ongoing on all three volcanoes. President Bongbog Marcos Jr. has ordered contingencies to be put in place. He also urged the residents of Albay to follow the evacuation procedures of the local government.

The country is part of the “Ring of Fire”, a path along the Pacific Ocean where a lot of volcanoes are located. More than 450 or 75% of the world’s total volcanoes are located within the ring. I would not be surprised if volcanoes in other countries have also shown signs of activity. I hope the current state of the three volcanoes is not an indication of a worrisome increase in activity. Aside from the typhoons forming over the Pacific Ocean, we may well see eruptions happening here and there.

We’re not even talking about seismic activity. Let’s leave it at that.