Children evacuees temporarily stay at the Bauan Technical High School in Batangas on January 16, 2020. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — Classes in all schools in the entire Batangas province will remain suspended until the Taal Volcano remains on the brink of another hazardous eruption, local authorities said Sunday.
Taal last Jan. 12 belched a giant ash cloud that reached Metro Manila and drove tens of thousands into evacuation centers. This also prompted state seismologists to place Taal under the second-highest alert in a 5-step system, which means that "hazardous explosive eruption is possible within hours to days."
"Suspension of classes shall continue in all levels in all schools, both public and private, in the entire Batangas province while the Alert Level of Taal is at Level 4," the province's Public Information Office said.
Batangas, which lies south of the capital, earlier declared a state of calamity to tap emergency funds and impose a prize freeze on basic goods.
Taal, one of the most active volcanoes in the Philippines, has erupted more than 30 times in the past 5 centuries, most recently in 1977. An eruption in 1911 killed 1,500 people and one in 1754 lasted for a few months. -- With a report from Reuters