Fast facts: Taal Volcano
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 13) — The Taal Volcano may appear small, but it's considered one of the most active in the Philippines with frequent eruptions over the past decades.
The Philippines is home to 24 of 400 active volcanoes globally. Including other dormant formations, Taal is part of the 407 volcanoes identified in the Philippines.
Located in Batangas, Taal is part of a group of volcanoes on the Macolod Corridor. This rift zone or the area where linear cracks develop stretches for about 50-60 kilometers and includes Mt. Makiling bordering Batangas and Laguna, Mt. Bahanaw located between Laguna and Quezon, and the Seven Lakes of San Pablo in Laguna.
It has a main crater lake which is blue-green in color and is 1.9 kilometers in diameter. The volcano has 47 craters in total, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. The rest of the volcano is below sea level.
Taal Volcano features a caldera that also has water in it. The "lake within a lake" view made the area a tourist attraction.
The lake is also home to the Tawilis, which is a small fish now considered an endangered species due to overfishing and poor water quality.
The land formation is called the Volcano Island, and is considered a permanent danger zone as there are slim chances of survival in the area in the event of an eruption.
Taal is considered the second most active volcano in terms of frequent eruptions, with 33 historical explosions thus far, Phivolcs said.
Historically, the Taal Volcano's activity starts small before escalating into a climactic eruption.
There have been five violent eruptions of Taal Volcano in recent history. Among those on record were in the year 1749, followed by another in 1754, 1911, 1965, and most recently, in October 1977. The January 1911 eruption alone killed 1,335 people.
Other deaths caused by the eruption of Taal Volcano resulted in people being swept away by volcanic tsunami while others were buried by pyroclastic density currents, or flowing hot gas and volcanic matter.
Phivolcs says volcanic tsunamis generated by movement in the volcano would not create waves taller than three meters.
Volcanic ashfall may also be experienced in nearby towns and cities in Luzon. Phivolcs says very fine ash may be deposited in the air and could take about three days to settle.
