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 in peril are the 350,000 residents of Angeles City, where the air base is located, about 50 miles north of Manila. Also at risk are 350 thousand residents of Angeles City. In the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino III declared a state of emergency in all provinces except for Metro Manila where he said there was no immediate threat from volcanic ash. 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.
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. In the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino III declared a state of emergency in all provinces except for Metro Manila where he said there was no immediate threat from volcanic ash. 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.