SJMN91-06162192


Human-Written Summary

Fifteen thousand military personnel at Clark Air Base, Philippine Islands, began to evacuate today due to the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. This order came in the wake of a Philippine government order for an evacuation of 11,000 people from 20 villages near the volcano. Following two moderate eruptions, a larger explosion is expected to follow. One Philippine official said that the volcano is spewing gas up to 1800 degrees, thick ash, boulders and rocks. Mt. Pinatubo is located in the "Ring of Fire" that encircles the Pacific Ocean. It is its first eruption in 600 years.

Lexical Chains

About 15,000 U.S. service members, dependents and civilians were ordered early today to evacuate Clark Air Base, one of the largest U.S. bases overseas, after a Philippine volcano dormant for six centuries began exploding with searing gases, thick ash and deadly debris. Lt. Col. Ron Rand, a spokesman at Clark, announced at 5 a.m. that all non - essential personnels hould begin evacuating the sprawling base as dawn skies over central Luzon were filled with gray ash and steam from eruptions of Mount Pinatubo, about 10 miles away in central Luzon. Philippines officials earlier had ordered the evacuation of more than 11,000 people from about 20 villages near the volcano, about 60 miles northwest of Manila, after a series of small eruptions began Friday . Raymundo Punongbayan, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said, however, that two moderate eruptions shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday appeared to signal a larger explosion. Villagers from a 12-mile radius of the mountain fled the area on foot and water buffalo, and aboard crowded trucks and jitneys. Seismologists reported a marked increase in volcanic tremors last week, with intense seismic quakes on the mountain Friday.

SJMN91-06163095


Human-Written Summary

The estimate is being made that Mount Pinatubo, which began to erupt on Saturday, will explode and send its deadly hot ash toward Clark Air Force Base on Luzon. Also at risk are 350 thousand residents of Angeles City. Even the threat of eruption is likely to keep the base closed indefinitely. Volcanic eruptions are caused when one of the earth's plates collides or moves apart and pressure from the earth's interior melts the rock and forces it to the surface. Pinatubo's last eruption 600 years ago produced as much molten rock as Mount St. Helens in 1980. The ash produced by a catastrophic eruption would be especially dangerous to in-flight aircraft, whose engines would stall. Sensitive instruments placed by U.S. and Philippine scientists continue to monitor the mountain.

Lexical Chains

Mount Pinatubo, the Philippine volcano that erupted Saturday after six centuries of quiet, is likely to explode in the next few days or weeks with force comparable to the Mount St. Helens explosion, a U.S. government scientist said Monday . "I think we could see a major explosive eruption any time," said Peter Lipman, a volcanologist at the U.S. Geological Survey office in Menlo Park . Lipman is in daily contact with five USGS scientists in the Philippines who have been studying the volcano since April, when it first stirred . A huge cloud of ash - laden steam rose up to 11,500 feet above the volcano today, spreading ash over a six - mile radius, the Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology said . If it does erupt, the deadly hot ash produced by the volcano could sweep across adjoining Clark Air Base, he said .

SJMN91-06164066


Human-Written Summary

Mount Pinatubo erupted violently today and sent a cloud of steam and ash 10 miles into the sky. Warning sirens and church bells sounded at Clark Air Base and surrounding communities. Terrified residents clogged roads in the area of Pinatubo. U.S. and Philippine volcanologists believed that more eruptions would follow and that everyone within 12 miles of Pinatubo should evacuate immediately. Communications with scientists taking measurements on the mountain were unsuccessful. It is known that this team had planned to make a helicopter flight over the mountain to check the size of the lava dome inside the volcano.

Lexical Chains

Mount Pinatubo violently erupted today, spewing gray plumes of steam and ash 10 miles into the sky and sending a deadly mix of searing gas and molten rocks down the volcano 's slopes . Sirens sounded within minutes at Clark Air Base, and 600 U.S. Air Force personnel who remained aft er an evacuation Monday fled the base . Roads nearby were clogged with cars, jeeps and buses as thousands of terrified residents fled . On Tuesday, a cloud of ash - laden steam rose up to 11,500 feet above the volcano but suddenly dissipated in the afternoon, only to revive again 20 minutes later . The eruption appeared to be smaller than that anticipated by Peter Lipman, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist in Menlo Park, who on Monday had said an eruption as massive as that of Mount St. Helens could occur any day .

SJMN91-06164150



Human-Written Summarys

Survivors of the Mount Pinatubo eruption relocated to a refugee camp near Olongapo, told a tale of panic and flight. The eruption began with a great gray-greenish mushroom cloud that turned day into night. A rain of ash followed. Refugees even used cardboard boxes in an attempt to protect themselves from ash. Clouds of volcanic ash drifted towards the South China Sea. Seismologists warned that the crisis may not be over. They believe that the volcano has plenty of built-up magma and that more severe eruptions could follow. One news reporter likened the huge eruption as being similar to a nuclear explosion.

Lexical Chains

Mount Pinatubo erupted with six thundering explosions today, shooting a giant plume of ash 15 miles high . Molten rock and hot gas poured from the volcano , and nearby residents fled in panic . A Filipino serving with the U.S. Navy became the first reported fatality related to the eruption when his car collided with a bus on an ash - slicked road north of the Subic Bay naval base . Scientists warned of more, possibly larger eruptions from the 4,795 - foot volcano, which was dor mant for six centuries until it began spewing steam in April . "This could be only the beginning, " said Raymundo Punongbayan, director of the Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology . About 3,000 Aeta tribesman, descendants of the original inhabitants of the Philippines, fled the slopes of Mount Pinatubo . President Corazon Aquino visited refugee centers near Angeles briefly before returning to Manila fo r independence day celebrations .

SJMN91-06165101


Human-Written Summarys

David Harlow is one of the few volcano seismologists in the world. He and a team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and from the Philippines listen to the signs from Mount Pinatubo; it had been inactive for 600 years. Pinatubo erupted according to the predictions by Harlow and the team, blowing ash 75,000 feet into the air and sending rivers of molten ash down its slope. The accurate prediction enabled the evacuation of 84,000 people from the area. Evacuees included personnel and dependents from the U.S. Clark Air Force Base. The base may have to be abandoned.

Lexical Chains

The cool - headed " guerrilla seismologist " from Menlo Park whose accurate predictions of the eruptio ns of Mount Pinatubo helped save thousands of lives in the Philippines is right where he wants to be - - a cramped bunker a dozen miles from the exploding volcano . One of only a handful of volcano seismologists in the world, David Harlow, 47, is known as an Indiana Jones of volcanoes, jumping at the chance to get close enough to pick up the bumps and tremors that signal an impending eruption and thriving on the high - pressure decision - making that goes with making predictions . Harlow and his team predicted the 1989 eruption of Redoubt Volcano in Alaska, but few lives were threatened in the remote area . Since late Tuesday, Harlow 's colleagues have not been able to get through on the single phone li e into the bunker at Clark Air Base, but do not believe the team is in danger . "I'm not so concerned, " said Pauline Lord, Harlow 's wife

SJMN91-06167046


Human-Written Summarys

Mount Pinatubo continues to be wracked by increasingly violent eruptions as Typhoon YUNYA slammed into the eastern coast of Luzon, Philippine Islands. The two forces of nature threaten to engulf cities and towns in their path. Temperatures of rivers were rising due to hot ash. Debris was clogging everything including generators, thus disrupting power supplies. Pinatubo began erupting violently on Friday and these explosions are seen as a single eruption. The eruption is occurring at the same time as U.S.- Philippine discussions on a military bases treaty. Pinatubo could remain active for years, possibly rendering Clark inoperable.

Lexical Chains

Mount Pinatubo rumbled today with explosions that hurled ash and gas more than 12 miles high, and a typhoon brought heavy rain that could unleash tons of debris from the jagged slopes . But it quickly weakened to a tropical storm with 60 mph winds by the time it was centered about 70 mil es east of the volcano . Meanwhile, President Corazon Aquino dismissed a British newspaper report that Americans had warned her of possible radioactive contamination if the volcano damages nuclear storage sites at Clark Air Base, abandoned Monday by nearly 15,000 Americans . The U.S. military began flying home hundreds of the 28,000 Americans who crowded onto Subic Bay Naval Base as a bizarre tropical blizzard of thick volcanic ash caused power failures across the base Fri day during a third day of increasingly violent eruptions of Mount Pinatubo . At least four people have died, 24 have been hurt and four have been listed as missing since Pinatubo began erupting Sunday, after lying dormant for six centuries, officials said . Five explosions shook the mountain early today, showering ash over a wide area and providing a spe ctacular pre - dawn display of nature 's fireworks against a backdrop of lightning and rain . Friday, eight thunderous explosions shot a cloud of ash and steam nearly 19 miles high .

SJMN91-06170171


Human-Written Summarys

When Mount Pinatubo first began to smoulder two months ago, seismologists began to climb over the mountain and place their recording devices at strategic points. Pinatubo had a habit of exploding with a force twice as great as Mount St. Helens. After a few weeks of investigation, the scientists decided to recommend evacuation of 84,000 people. The warning was timely. The mountain erupted blowing hot ash and pumice 80,000 feet into the air. This marked a turning point in successful volcanic forecasting. U.S. officials, however, believe that the damage at Clark Air Base may force the permanent closure of the base.

Lexical Chains

The Mount Pinatubo volcano was slowly rousing from 600 years of sleep . Two months ago, when the drama began, scientists knew almost nothing about this drowsy Philippine giant, swaddled in thick jungle and ignored by the hundreds of thousands of people living around its flanks . They did not know it had a habit of exploding with a force twice as great as the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington - - or that the debris from these eruptions had covered much of what was now Clark Air Base . The successful forecast points up just how far the science of volcanoes has come in the past decade . Researchers still use seismometers and other instruments to measure the trembling, quaking and bulging of the ground that often spell danger . Instruments are cheaper and more expendable, so they can be deployed where they will do the most good - - right in the path of the volcano 's fury . The instruments continually beam data to scientists who are waiting a safe distance away .

SJMN91-06170249



Human-Written Summary

There were many personal stories of panic and wrenching sadness as thousands of residents of the Mount Pinatubo area fled their homes after the eruption. All of nature seemed to be conspiring against the Philippines. There were mudslides, torrential rain, floods, and always the heavy mass of volcanic ash. Communications were down, emergency food and water supplies were low and the death toll from the forces of nature now numbers 200. The heavy thick ash has collapsed homes and buildings. Evacuation centers are jammed with people. Angeles is without power and there is looting because of the lack of food.

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BEBY TOLENTINO said Monday that she had crossed herself and frantically brought her hands together in prayer as the mudslide began to carry away the neighborhood church . " People think that maybe God was trying to punish us, " said Tolentino, her hands and face coate d with the talc - like volcanic ash that has saturated the air since Mount Pinatubo began erupting las t week . The Tolentinos and 100 other poor families along the Albacan River in Angeles, a once - bustling city of 280,000 people in the shadow of Mount Pinatubo, lost their homes Saturday in mudslides and floods brought on by the volcano 's powerful eruption . As many as 150,000 people fleeing the volcano were said to be crowding into evacuation centers Mond ay night in Manila, the capital, about 50 miles south of the volcano . " It 's been horrible this past week. " " I have gone on the public address system here and called his name, but there is never any response .