Just ashes, shells of houses left on the volcano island

TAAL VOLCANO, Philippines (AP) – The island is a ghost town, its trees are just dead branches in a gray landscape, its houses and schools covered in ash and damaged by continuous earthquakes and the explosive volcanic eruption that occurred a year ago.

Fisherman Rogelito Cacao regularly visits his home on the volcanic island south of the Philippine capital. “I miss our belongings, but now it is covered with ash, our cattle like our cow, our horse, our pig, our boat and engines are all covered by the volcano, that’s what I miss”.

Luisa Silva lived at the foot of the Taal volcano and said that life will never be the same. “At the moment, life is very difficult, we are not used to it. This is where we live things we have never experienced before, we don’t know where to start, ”she said.

Silva wants to return to the island if the government allows it. She said they can grow vegetables and raise cattle in their homes on the island, preventing them from having to buy food. Their animals also took tourists to see the picturesque crater.

A popular tourist destination situated in the middle of a lake, Taal erupted on January 12, 2020.

More than 5,000 people, many of them working as tour guides, fled the small island while the ground shook and the volcano spewed ash and steam into the sky. Hundreds of horses, cows and other animals were left behind.

The eruption sparked an early crisis in what would become a difficult year in one of the most disaster-prone nations. A few months after the volcano caused more than 376,000 people to flee to safety, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country.

Many homeless people stayed in state emergency shelters for a while, then returned to the ash-covered cities and towns in Batangas province while the dangers abated.

But the volcanic island in Lake Taal is very dangerous, and the government prohibits former residents from returning.

Some have found other homes, but about 50 families still live in tents a year after the outbreak and are resorting to odd jobs. Calauit village chief Jimmy Tenorio said the rest of the families living in tents would be relocated soon.

Meanwhile, Taal still roars, with small earthquakes and thin clouds of steam coming out of the crater on Monday.