Thoughts of Taal

I feel like I need some processing coz the week passed by so fast and there were lots of things happening.

Its been more than a week since Taal erupted. Several towns still on lockdown. Lots of families still on evacuation centers. People are away from their homes, no livelihood and can only rely to relief goods of govt, ngos, private sectors and individuals.

A lot of my friends know that we live just beside Taal lake.. maybe just 50 meters away from the shore and yes, apparently just within >9km radius zone. I’ve told a lot of stories how we held so many family events by the shore, how it used to be our playground, how I used to blame it why I have brown skin color (coz we would swim even if the sun is at its brightest), how we always bring our visitors and proudly show a visual map of Tagaytay, Mt Maculot and Taal volcano. We’ve watched lots of sunrises and have swum mutiple times in the lake til dusk. We’ve always called this lake “dagat” who have been through lots of high tides and low tides, el ninos and laninas.

I do remember asking hypothetically what if Taal suddenly erupts. But I’ve never imagined it will happen in this lifetime. Last eruption was 55 years ago. We’ve only asked and heard stories from Daddy and Titos and Titas but only now we probably get to really absorb and understand and visualize them.

What are the things Im thankful for:
That all my family and relatives have evacuated safely.
That by this time, weve also evacuated our goats and pets.
That my family has a place to stay (kahit siksikan)
That there are lots of help coming in from friends, relatives and colleagues (moral, emotional, financial support)
Our (big) clan’s bond is stronger
My younger sibs stepped up for the family while Kuya and Ate are both not around and that God enlightened them with wisdom to decide on important family matters

My takeaways:

Once the alert levels of Taal is lifted, life will go on. Actually even now, life must go on.
We realize hands-on the value of emergency fund.
That whatever happens, family will be our priority.

Just wanna give a shoutout to all my friends who were worried about us and prayed with us while some of our family are yet to be rescued until they were safely evacuated. (yung iba di ko pa nareplyan 🙂

Thank you to all who have extended help in different ways to our family, relatives and to all of Batangas.

Thank you Lord for keeping us safe 🙏.

I really want to write in detail all the things that have happened from my father’s knee operation then after 2 days, Taal erupted. And all else that’s happening in the background.. Soon.

Once this is all over, Batangas will rise up again. Definitely.