When 15,000 anxious Americans were evacuated from Clark Air Base in the Philippines last week, they didn't know what to think. Were they in real danger or the victims of a false alarm? Within 48 hours, they got their answer. Nearby Mount Pinatubo, after sleeping quietly for more than 600 years, suddenly erupted in a series of explosions that shot plumes of steam and ash as much as 30 km (20 miles) into the sky. Debris rained down on surrounding villages, and a giant mushroom cloud was visible 100 km (60 miles) away in Manila.
The confirmed death toll was only...
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