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Ashes to bricks: Philippine city helps others rebuild after volcano

adminJanuary 17, 20201 Mins read88 Views

BINAN: A Philippine city shrouded in ash from the nearby Taal volcano has turned adversity into an opportunity to help neighbouring towns hit by the natural disaster.

The mayor of Binan has ordered residents to collect ash blanketing homes, cars and roads and put it in sacks to be sent to a state-owned factory and turned into bricks.

"When the ash came, we thought we'd exchange the white sand which we mix with plastics to be converted into bricks with ash. We did it and they came out sturdy," Binan Mayor Walfredo Dimaguila, 48, told Reuters.

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Taal Volcano's crater is pictured from a helicopter in Batangas, Philippines, Jan 17, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Office of Civil Defense/Handout)

The facility can produce up to 5,000 bricks a day which will be used to rebuild schools damaged since Taal, one of the Philippines' most active and deadliest volcanoes, began spewing massive clouds of ash, steam and gas on Sunday (Jan 12).

"What we plan is to turn them into hollow blocks and bricks and sell them to interested companies," Dimaguila said, adding that the proceeds would be donated to people directly affected by the restive volcano.

Several buildings in lakeside towns near Taal volcano, located about 70km south of the capital, were destroyed as heavy ash weighed makeshift roofs and toppled trees, and tens of thousands of people have fled their homes.

Some of the evacuees are unsure if they have home and livelihood to return to.