Two church bells that alerted some 3,000 families in Barangay (village) San Vicente here of the need to evacuate from lahar flows after Mt. Pinatubo’s eruptions in 1991 had been stolen early this month.
Sand quarrying in the province’s lahar areas is now Pampanga’s biggest source of revenue, bringing in more than P600 million in taxes and fees in the last 28 months, according to the province’s officials.
Lahar is not all about tragedy. In this former capital of the Philippines, it is also about victory against nature’s fury, mainly the 1991 eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo and the onslaught of volcanic sediments that entombed the town in a sandy grave that went as deep as 20 meters until 1997.
MINALIN, Pampanga—Drivers of off-road vehicles (also called 4 by 4, four-wheel drives or all-terrain vehicles) are unheralded heroes in the disaster spawned by Mount Pinatubo’s 1991 eruptions. Their leaders agree to the tag, one that is coming on the 20th anniversary of the blasts, not for themselves but for members who risked their lives when [...]
(Last of two parts) IBA, Zambales—Residents of this province are still struggling under the weight of lahar that rolled down the slopes of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 and the ashfall that settled and irreversibly changed the landscape. Zambales bore the biggest damage to public infrastructures in 1991, data from the National Economic and Development Authority [...]
