It’s an uneasy calm around Taal volcano almost a week after it spewed enormous ashes that blanketed surrounding towns forcing thousands of families to flee to ash-covered but safer grounds.
The tremors have subsided but the Philippine Institute of Volcanology says danger lurks as there are still movements underneath the volcano as manifested in the lake water receding, cracks on the grounds and steam rising from those fissures.
A number of towns have been declared “No Man’s land.” That means families are still stuck in evacuation centers or with relatives and friends.
Disasters bring out the best and worst of us. While there have been incidents of selfishness (like looting of abandoned houses and one who bought boxes of N-95 face mask emptying the shelves of one Mercury drugstore for her family of four), the devastation caused by the Taal volcano eruption has once again tapped the generous heart of Filipinos. Many individual citizens and groups have spearheaded donation drives for those who have been displaced by Taal’s fury.
Photojournalist Luis Liwanag shares images of grit, sadness, adversity, generosity and hope he has captured on his second visit to Taal after the January 12 eruption. (Ellen Tordesillas)
