BLAKE ESSIG: You can hear
the fear in his voice.
BLAKE ESSIG: Frantic
moments, racing
across a moon-like
landscape, risking
everything to see what's left
of the life he left behind.
After several days of
continuous eruptions,
this is the scene from
Taal Volcano Island.
What this man found--
homes destroyed, decimated plant
life, and to his surprise--
BLAKE ESSIG: --several
horses covered in ash.
BLAKE ESSIG: In the end,
forced to leave them behind.
On the other side of the
lake, the cleanup effort
is underway, despite the
effort by police to keep people
from returning
and the government
issuing a mandatory total
evacuation of nearly half a
million people.
That includes everyone living
within a 14-kilometer radius
of the volcano, which
scientists believe
could blow at any moment.
INTERPRETER: We cannot
fault these people going
back to check on their homes.
First, they want to check
their homes, their livelihoods.
BLAKE ESSIG:
Defiantly, many people,
including 20-year-old
Renz Mateo,
sneak past authorities daily
in an effort to salvage
what's left of his home.
INTERPRETER: Our
house was destroyed.
We have nothing, no more
house to go back to.
BLAKE ESSIG: And he's not alone.
52-year-old Vangie
Sarmiento says
she's also lost everything.
INTERPRETER: It was
totally destroyed.
I only saw it yesterday.
I saw our barangay and
can't help but cry.
I ask myself, how can
we rebuild our lives?
How can we start again?
BLAKE ESSIG: Sarmiento, along
with more than 53,000 people,
are now living in temporary
evacuation shelters, which some
say lack food, water,
and clothing, confined
to cardboard
mattresses on the floor
until Taal goes back to sleep.
Blake Essig, CNN, Hong Kong.
