This might not be the typical expat blog, written by a German expat, living in the Philippines since 1999. It's different. In English and in German. Check it out! Enjoy reading!
Dies mag' nun wirklich nicht der typische Auswandererblog eines Deutschen auf den Philippinen sein. Er soll etwas anders sein. In Englisch und in Deutsch! Viel Spass beim Lesen!
You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?
There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!
Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!
Visitors of germanexpatinthephilippines/Besucher dieser Webseite.Ich liebe meine Flaggensammlung!
Alles grau in grau! Nur die Kleidung der Frau und die Statue des Jesuskindes, die sie in Sicherheit trägt, bringen etwas Farbe in die Aschewelt der Provinz Batangas (Philippinen). Der seit Tagen tobende Vulkan Taal hat die ganze Gegend mit einer Decke aus Asche und Geröll überzogen, über 45000 Menschen mussten bereits ihre Häuser verlassen und flüchten.
A volcano in the Philippines has begun spewing lava, as authorities warn that a "hazardous eruption" is possible "within hours or days".
In the early hours of Monday weak lava began flowing out of Taal volcano - located some 70km (45 miles) south of the capital Manila.
It comes after it emitted a huge plume of ash, triggering the mass evacuation of 8,000 people from the area.
Taal is the Philippines' second most active volcano.
Situated on an island in the middle of a lake, it is one of the world's smallest volcanoes and has recorded at least 34 eruptions in the past 450 years.
Image copyrightPHIVOLCSImage captionWeak lava has began flowing out of the Taal volcano
"Taal volcano entered a period of intense unrest... that progressed into magmatic eruption at 02:49 to 04:28... this is characterised by weak lava fountaining accompanied by thunder and flashes of lightning," the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in a statement.
But Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said that signs of a hazardous eruption, including "flows of ashes, rocks, gas at speeds of more than 60 kph horizontally" had not yet occurred, according to CNN Philippines.
Phivolcs has now raised the alert level from 3 to 4, out of a maximum of 5.
Authorities have also warned of a possible "volcanic tsunami", which can be trigged by falling debris after an eruption, pushing the water and generating waves.
On Sunday, the volcano emitted a giant plume of ash, with rumbling sounds and tremors also reported.
A total of 75 earthquakes have occurred in the Taal region, with 32 of these earthquakes ranking 2 and higher on the earthquake intensity scale, said Phivolcs.
The Official United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said more than 450,000 people are estimated to live within the 14km danger zone of the Taal volcano.
Over 450,000 people are estimated to be residing within the 14 km danger zone of the Taal Volcano. On 12 January, alert level 4 was raised and surrounding towns were evacuated. As of 6 a.m. today, @NDRRMC_OpCen reports that over 7,700 people are in 38 evacuation centres.
Ash fell on several areas nearby with residents advised to wear masks. One resident in metro Manila said shops had begun to run out of masks.
"When I went to my car, I saw it was covered in ash. I hurriedly went to buy a mask from a drugstore but they had run out," Angel Bautista, a resident of Paranaque told Reuters.
The government has warned retailers not to hike mask prices amid the surging demand.
'Grey and lifeless'
By Howard Johnson, BBC News, Tagaytay, Philippines
As we approached the Taal volcano area this morning we saw local residents shovelling thick wet ash from the roads. Pineapple groves, normally verdant and luscious, now looked grey and lifeless.
In the distance Taal continued to billow ash and smoke miles into the sky. As the morning went on the ash clouds became darker.
Police manning a 14km exclusion zone stopped people from travelling into the area close to the volcano, but there was a steady flow of cars and trucks moving out.
On the back of one pick-up truck, I saw a large family with their treasured household possessions. They were moving in the direction of the Philippine capital Manila, where many people are choosing to stay with relatives.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionCars, buildings and roads have been left covered in ashImage copyrightEPAImage captionEven birds have been blanketed by ashfall
The volcanic ash also forced Manila's international airport to suspend all flights on Sunday. Phivolcs had warned that the "airborne ash and ballistic fragments from the eruption... posed hazards to aircrafts".
The Civil Aviation Authority announced later on Monday that it had resumed "partial operations" as of 10:00 local time (02:00 GMT) for flights departing the airport and 12:00 for arrivals.
The Philippine stock exchange also announced it would halt all trading on Monday.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionAsh from the Taal volcano has affected thousands of residents in nearby areas
President Rodrigo Duterte's office has also ordered the suspension of government work in Manila and the closure of all schools in the capital.
Earthquakes and volcanic activity are not uncommon in the Philippines, which lies along the Ring of Fire - a zone of major seismic activity, which has one of the world's most active fault lines.
Taal: 'A very dangerous volcano'
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
The active volcano is at the centre of the 230 sq km Lake Taal, formed by prehistoric eruptions
Taal is a "complex volcano", which means it doesn't have one vent or cone but several eruption points that have changed over time
The head of Phivolcs calls Taal "a volcano within a volcano" and says as such it is "very dangerous"
Taal has erupted in different ways more than 30 times in the past 500 years - most recently in 1977
A 1911 eruption killed about 1,500 people. A 1974 eruption lasted several months
The Philippines' most active volcano continued to spew fountains of red-hot lava and massive ash plumes Tuesday in a dazzling but increasingly dangerous eruption that has sent 56,000 villagers to shelter in evacuation centers.
Lava fountains gushed up 2,300 feet above Mount Mayon's crater and ash plumes rose up to 1.9 miles at night and before daybreak, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. An explosive eruption at noon Mondaywas the most powerful since the volcano started acting up more than a week ago.
Authorities warned a violent eruption may occur in hours or days, characterized by more rumblings and pyroclastic flows - superheated gas and volcanic debris that race down the slopes at high speeds, vaporizing everything in their path.
After Monday's huge explosion, officials raised Mayon's alert level to four on a scale of five, and the danger zone was expanded to 5 miles from the crater, requiring thousands more residents to be evacuated, including at least 12,000 who left their homes and then returned during gentler eruptions.
Authorities struggled to prevent villagers from sneaking back to check on their homes and farms and to watch a cockfight in an arena in Albay's Santo Domingo town despite the risks and police patrols and checkpoints, said Cedric Daep, a provincial disaster-response official.
In a sign of desperation, Daep told a news conference that he has recommended electricity and water supply be cut in communities within the no-go zones to discourage residents from returning.
Lava spews from the Mayon volcano as it continues to erupt, seen from Legazpi City in Albay province, south of Manila, Philippines, Jan. 23, 2018.
GETTY
"If pyroclastic flows hit people, there is no chance for life," Daep said. "Let us not violate the natural law, avoid the prohibited zone, because if you violate, the punishment is death penalty."
The daytime eruptions have plunged nearby villages in darkness and sent lava, rocks and debris cascading down Mayon's slopes toward the no-entry danger zone. There have been no reports of deaths and injuries. Airplanes have been ordered to stay away from the crater and ash-laden winds and several domestic flights have been canceled.
Volcanic ash fell Monday in more than a dozen towns in coconut-growing Albay and nearby Camarines Sur province, with visibility being heavily obscured in a few towns because of the thick gray ash fall, Jukes Nunez, another Albay provincial disaster response officer, said by telephone.
"It was like night time at noon, there was zero visibility in some areas because the ash fall was so thick," Nunez said.
Students pass through rice paddy as they run from cascading volcanic materials from slopes of Mayon Volcano in Philippines on January 22, 2018
STRINGER / REUTERS
More than 30,000 ash masks and about 5,000 sacks of rice, along with medicine, water and other supplies, were being sent to evacuation centers, Office of Civil Defense regional director Claudio Yucot said late Monday.
Food packs, water, medicine and other relief goods remain adequate but may run out by mid-February if the eruption continues and adequate supplies fail to come on time, officials said.
With its near-perfect cone, Mayon has long been popular with climbers and tourists but has erupted about 50 times in the last 500 years, sometimes violently. The 8,070-foot volcano has generated tourism revenues and jobs in Albay, which lies about 210 miles southeast of Manila.
In 2013, an ash eruption killed five climbers who had ventured near the summit despite warnings. Its most destructive eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried the town of Cagsawa in volcanic mud. The belfry of Cagsawa's stone church still juts from the ground in an eerie reminder of Mayon's fury.
The Philippines, which has about 22 active volcanoes, lies in the "Ring of Fire," a line of seismic faults surrounding the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common.
In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the northern Philippines exploded in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing about 800 people, covering entire towns and cities in ash and partly prompting the U.S. government to abandon its vast air and naval bases on the main northern Luzon island.
By Kristine Phillips, Washington PostJanuary 22 at 12:08 PM
0:40
Watch: White hot lava spews from Mayon volcano
Footage captured by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology shows lava fountains shooting out of the Mayon volcano on the night of Jan. 21.(Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology)
Thousands of Filipino families have been evacuated in the Philippine province of Albay as the country’s most active volcano inches toward a possibly major eruption.
A thick gray cloud of ash billowed high above the summit of Mount Mayon on Monday, when officials raised the alert level to four, an indication that a hazardous eruption is imminent. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the volcano has been “exhibiting increased seismic unrest, lava fountaining and summit explosions.” The agency also has extended what it calls the “danger zone” to an eight-kilometer radius (nearly five miles) from the volcano’s vent.
Footage captured by the agency showed bright orange lava fountains shooting out of the volcano’s summit Sunday night.
Renato Solidum, the agency’s director, described two possible scenarios during a news conference Monday. Mayon will either continue to ooze lava with small eruptions in between — like what happened in 2006 and 2009 — or we’re seeing the early stages of a major, and far more catastrophic, blast or pyroclastic flow, a deadly combination of hot lava blocks, pumice, ash and volcanic gas that barrels down a volcanic slope and can devastate residential areas.
Compounding the threat is what’s called lahar, a potentially deadly mud flow of volcanic material that can happen even without a major explosion. Solidum said heavy rain could drive mudflow in the region and cause landslides near already swollen bodies of water.
Romina Marasigan, spokeswoman for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, told reporters last week that nearly 8,300 families — or more than 34,000 people — in Albay have been moved to 30 evacuation centers. These include families in areas far from the danger zone but who could be affected by mudflow. Marasigan said it could be weeks before families can return to their homes.
Officials have allotted about 5.5 million pesos (about $100,000) worth of assistance, some in the form of food items, for evacuees, Marasigan said.
Classes in several cities and municipalities and flights to and from some areas of the province have also been suspended, Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara announced Monday on Facebook. Bichara also urged people to stay indoors and wear face masks.
Filipino villagers in Camalig evacuate Monday in anticipation of an eruption of nearby Mount Mayon. (Linus Escandor II/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Mayon first showed signs of unrest Jan. 13, when the volcano produced a grayish ash plume, about a mile and a half high, that drifted southwest and sent ash down on nearby areas. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised its alert level to two the following day and then to three hours later.
A state of calamity was declared last Tuesday in Albay in the southeastern part of Luzon island about 300 miles from the capital, Manila.
Mayon, which draws tourists because of its symmetrical cone shape, rises more than 8,000 feet above the Albay Gulf. It has erupted 47 times since 1616. The deadliest, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried a village. The most recent deadly eruption was in 1993, when more than 70 people were killed. The eruption continued for two months.
Perhaps a close comparison to recent events was an eruption in 2001, Solidum told reporters, according to CNN Philippines.
Mayon is one of the Philippines’ 22 active volcanoes.
0:20
Ash cloud billows from Mayon volcano on verge of eruption
Smoke and ash erupted from the Philippines's Mayon volcano on Jan. 22. Officials raised the alert level to a four, meaning an eruption could be imminent.
