TUESDAY ON THE TROPICS 160
14th January 2020
Dear friends and colleagues
In the island at the centre of Lake Taal near us is an active volcano. Although it has not erupted for about seventy years, previous eruptions have created tsunamis in the lake or extensive clouds of poisonous gas. On Sunday we were away in Manila and were told that there was steam coming off the lake and that it was raining mud in Cavite, North of the lake. Soon, we heard, the volcano had started to belch clouds of smoke and ash.
On Sunday night in Manila the ash started to fall. If you stood outside with arms outstretched you could feel it falling. It was as if someone was slowly grinding pepper onto the palms of your hands.
On Monday morning we drove back home South to Ibabao the barangay (village or community) where we live – about forty miles as the crow flies. Our house is 13.5 kilometres south of Taal volcano, so technically we are in the evacuation area which everyone is supposed to leave – we are re-assured by having a large mountain between us and the crater, and that our buildings are well made.
Travelling South
The eruption as seen from the motorway.
Visibility was poor for much of our journey. In the South-East where Lake Taal the sky looked grainy. Overall, it was grey, marked by black clouds and a yellowish light. Even within Manila when travelling on the skyway – the North-South flyover – you could see at the edges of the road a layering of browny-grey dust. Soon after leaving Manila and its suburbs we could see occasional clouds of dust floated alongside the road. A truck had crashed into the dividing wall of the motorway and caused big hold ups – there had been many accidents the previous day. Soon there were more and more clouds of dust floating about just above the ground, as if floating over from a nearby desert. The grass in the fields we passed was green but any pile of stuff or rubbish or any flat unvegetated surface was covered with dust, a dirty brown grey. The wind created by the passing traffic kept dust from settling on the road itself. The forecourts of petrol stations and car parks especially looked like rooms that has been uninhabited for years, covered in dust. Soon all the trees at the side of the road started to look dusty and colourless.
As we drew closer to Lake Taal, we could see that to our left (west) the sky when it appeared between the clouds was blue, but ahead and to our right where Lake Taal was it was all murk. As we approached the city of Lipa where we leave the motorway and turn westwards for Ibabao there was little dust, the air was much clearer – the wind had obviously not blown this way.
We took a detour to the top of the ridge overseeing the lake to see the smoke still pouring out of the volcano. Just like Brueghel’s ploughman in The Fall of Icarus, the cows and horses remain unconcerned and unbothered.
We cows are not concerned
The white smoke you see in some photographs is presumably steam. The crater was filled with water – indeed we walked to it a few years ago when it was a relatively large lake in the centre of the island – maybe 300 yards across. There is, or was, a small island in the centre of the lake. It is or was, uniquely, an island in a lake in an island in a lake in an island in the sea.
As well as the eruption there had been other seismic activity – eg earthquakes – so we had asked other people in our house to take anything fragile or breakable of the shelves. Within two hours of us getting home there was a sequence of four earthquakes – none major but all sharp and very noticeable. More sustained shocks occurred in the evening, but none serious. The garden is and was covered with dust. A strong rain would be a blessing.
What we missed by being away on Sunday apparently was an extraordinary display of lightning and thunder.
Like everyone we are staying inside as much as possible so as not to breath in too much dust. The schools are closed. Many people are wearing face masks. When I walked the dog this morning my eyes stung. In the afternoon we went to an evacuation centre in the nearby town of Cuenca and gave boring but useful things to the hundreds of people from the edges of the lake who have gone there – nappies, toothpaste.
This situation may last for a long time. One recorded eruption went on for seven months.
I know I promised to conclude my review of the Singapore Biennale but the volcano is currently more on my mind.
Speak next week,
Tony