Teco ambassador: No Taiwanese national affected by Taal eruption

MANILA, Philippines – The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (Teco) in Manila has confirmed that no Taiwanese national was affected by the recent eruption of the Taal Volcano.

According to Teco Ambassador Michael Peiyung Hsu on Friday, they are closely monitoring the situation and have been in communication with Philippine authorities regarding developments involving the eruption of the volcano.

“So far, not yet, no one from Taiwan is affected by the volcano eruption.  And we closely monitor the eruption, every day we contact the DOST [Department of Science and Technology] to learn the latest development of the volcano,” Hsu said on the sidelines of a program at the Teco office in Makati.

“And we hope to see that the volcano eruptions die down, we don’t want to see a real eruption because that will affect more people.  So far Taiwanese here are okay,” he added.

Taal Volcano erupted Sunday afternoon, displacing people from towns surrounding the Taal Lake.  The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has raised Alert Level 4, as an imminent eruption may happen within hours and days.

With this declaration, the 14-kilometer radius has been evacuated to avoid any loss of life, especially as ash spewed by the volcano has already covered nearby towns, with ashfall reaching as far as Metro Manila and Central Luzon.

Government data says that more than 26,000 families or 121,000 people have evacuated, but non-government organizations claim that the number may be as high as 300,000 — including residents who preferred to stay with relatives and friends, and not in evacuation centers.

Edited by JPV