Volcanos In The Philippines

The Philippine Islands are located in "The Ring of Fire" around the Pacific ocean. At present we are living at an altitude of about 750 feet in a subdivision on the side of an ancient volcano. We are not concerned about tsunamis. We are nearly 25 kilometers from Taal Volcano which is in the center of the caldera of the ancient volcano.

Taal acted up a few years ago and spewed volcanic ash thousands of feet into the air. The wind carried it over a great area. Ash fell on our house for a couple of days, just a little not a lot. We swept it off the sidewalk.

When Mt Pinatubo erupted in the 1990's it buried lawns of homes, in and around the Clark Freeport Zone of Pampanga, in several feet of ash. Angeles City, Olongapo, Tarlac and many other cities were affected by ash. Ash even fell on the Greater Manila Area.

I talked with a man at a jeepney stop in the Clark Freeport Zone and he recalled how the sky turned black and he thought "This is it. It's all over now." He survived. It happened that the director of the Philippines volcanology department was hesitant to issue evacuation orders but took a chance, based on the data they had, and finally ordered a large area to evacuate. Well his educated guess resulted in the saving of a great many lives. 

If you have an aversion to exploding volcanos you may want to live a hundred miles or more away from one. It may be hundreds of years between eruptions, but one never knows when. Warnings are announced when volcanos start becoming active. So if you buy or build a house "you pays your money, you takes your chances." Some houses get buried by Lahars. Choose your location carefully or just "fuggitaboutit" and go happily about your life!

Check these lower cost types of home construction in the Philippines.

Keep these things ready to go at all times.