31st January 2020
On 12th and 13th January this year, Taal Volcano erupted on Luzon Island in the Philippines. Within a very short time after the eruptions, local villages were showered with a thick layer of ash, noxious sulphur dioxide fumes filled the air and 500 metre plumes of molten lava shot into the atmosphere.
Taal is a small but complex volcano with many eruption points making it highly unpredictable. A 17 km danger zone, with a population approaching half a million, was designated around the volcano. An estimated 300,000 plus inhabitants were relocated to shelters and designated evacuation centres, leaving their homes, belongings and access to safe water supplies behind.
We already had a supply of aid boxes in Manilla and so were quickly able to deploy these to displaced peoples, working in partnership with the charity Humanity First. The boxes were distributed just one week after the eruptions to 245 families giving more than 1000 people the potential to access safe drinking water.
Very soon afterwards we received notification of the aid distribution, a letter of thanks from Humanity First in the Philippines and images from the evacuation centres. Aquabox was extremely gratified to work locally and with speed in response to this, just one of the world’s many disasters to which we react.