From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano located on the island of Luzon, near the tripoint of the Philippine provinces of
Zambales, Tarlac, and Pampanga. It is located in the Tri-Cabusilan Mountain range separating the west coast of Luzon from the central plains, and is 42 km
(26 mi) west of the dormant and solitary Mount Arayat. It was
covered with dense forest which supported a population of several thousand indigenous people,
the Aeta, who had fled to the mountains from the lowlands during the Spanish conquest of the Philippines. The volcano's Plinian / Ultra-Plinian eruption in June 1991 produced the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th
century after the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in the Alaska Peninsula. The colossal 1991 eruption had a Volcanic Explosivity and came some 450–500 years after the volcano's last known
eruptive activity (estimated as the level of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens),
and some 1000 years after previous eruptive activity. A corresponds to 10 to 100 cubic km of released material (Pinatubo
released an estimated 6 to 16 cubic km of ash). Successful predictions of the onset of the climactic eruption led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from the
surrounding areas, saving many lives, but surrounding areas were severely damaged by pyroclastic flows, ash deposits,
and later by lahars caused by rainwater remobilizing earlier volcanic deposits; thousands of houses and other buildings were
destroyed. The effects of the eruption were felt worldwide. It ejected roughly 10 billion metric tonnes (10 cubic kilometres) of magma,
and 20 million tons of SO2, bringing vast quantities of minerals and metals to the surface environment. It injected large amounts of aerosol into the stratosphere – more than any eruption since that of Krakatoa in 1883. Over the
following months, the aerosols formed a global layer of sulfuric acid haze. Global temperatures dropped by about 0.5 °C (0.9
°F),
and ozone depletion temporarily increased substantially. The volcano is located 87 km (55 miles) northwest of Manila, 14 km (9 miles) west of the former Clark Air Base, and 37 km
(23 mi) north of the former U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay.[5] Clark Air Base's residential areas and
petroleum storage facilities were in much closer proximity to the volcano than the airfield complex and neighboring Angeles
City. The Aetas
An indigenous group of people, the Aetas (also spelled as Ayta/Ita), had lived on the slopes of the volcano and in
surrounding areas for several centuries, having fled the lowlands to escape persecution by the Spanish during their Spanish
conquest of the Philippines which began in 1565. They were a hunter-gatherer people who were extremely successful in
surviving in the dense jungles of the area. These people also grew some staple crops such as wheat, barley, and rice. In total, about 30,000 people lived on the flanks of the volcano in about 25 established barangays (villages) and other small
settlements like Tarukan village and Maruglu. The dense jungle covering most of the mountain and surrounding peaks
supported the hunter-gathering Aeta, while on the surrounding flatter areas, the abundant rainfall (almost 4 m annually)
provided by the monsoon climate and the fertile volcanic soils provided excellent conditions for agriculture, and many people
grew rice and other staple foods. Mount Pinatubo's summit was 1,745 m (5,725 ft) above sea level, but only about 600 m (2,000 ft) above nearby plains, and
about 200 m (660 ft) higher than surrounding peaks, which largely obscured it from view. It is a part of a chain of volcanoes
which lie along the western side of the edge of the island of Luzon (West Luzon volcanic arc) specifically referred to as the
Tri-Cabusilan Mountain Range which consists of Mt. Tayawan and Mt. They are
subduction volcanoes, formed by the Philippine Mobile Belt sliding over the Eurasian Plate along the Manila Trench to the
west. Mount Pinatubo and the other volcanoes of the volcanic arc arise due to magma occlusion from this subduction plate
boundary. Pinatubo is flanked on the west by the Zambales Ophiolite Complex, which is an easterly-dipping section of Eocene ocean
crust which was uplifted during the late Oligocene. The Tarlac Formation consists of marine, nonmarine and volcaniclastic
sediments in the north, east and southeast of Pinatubo which was formed in the late Miocene and Pliocene. Pinatubo was
an andesite and dacite stratovolcano whose center was in the same location of the current volcano. The old volcano is
exposed in the walls of an old 3.5 x 4.5 km wide 3.5 by 4.5 kilometres (2.2 × 2.8 mi) caldera. Ancestral satellite vents
include the domes of Mount Negron, Mount Cuadrado, Mt. Mataba, Bituin plug, and Tapungho plug. Cultural history
The word pinatubo could mean a fertile place where one can make crops grow or could mean "made to grow" in Tagalog and
Sambal, which may suggest a knowledge of its previous eruption in about AD 1500. There is an oral tradition amongst local
people[who?] suggestive of a folk memory of earlier large eruptions. Ancient legend tells of Bacobaco, the terrible spirit of
the sea, who could metamorphose into a huge turtle and who threw fire from his mouth. When being chased by the spirit
hunters, Bacobaco fled to the mountain and dug a great hole in its summit showering the surrounding land with rock, mud,
dust and fire for three days; howling so loudly that the earth shook. History among Aetas
Aeta elders tell many stories about the history of the mountain, the best known being that it was once a Batung Mabye
(Kapampangan for living stone). It was said to have been planted on a kingdom by a displeased sorcerer but relocated by a
hero. The mountain was soon turned into the abode of Apo Namalyari ("The lord of happenings/ events"), the pagan deity of
the Sambal, Aeta, and Kapampangans living on the Zambales range. It was said to comprise the whole mountain range until
Sinukuan of Mount Arayat (the god of the Kapampangans) became a strong rival of Namalyari. Their fight, which took place
over the center plains, involved the shattering of the mountain into smaller bodies while Mount Arayat lost its center peak. Other versions have it that Pinatubo's peak shattered because of Namalyari's immense fury in an attempt to teach humans
the meaning of fear and show how misdeeds will be punished. According to the elders, Apo Namalyari, caused the 1991 eruption because of displeasure toward illegal loggers and
Philippine National Oil Company executives who performed deep exploratory drilling and well testing on the mountain
looking for geothermal heat from 1988 to 1990. Discouraging results from the wells forced the abandonment of the prospect
13 months before the April 2, 1991 explosions. Aetas granted ownership of Pinatubo
After being driven away by the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, in May 2009 some 454 Aeta families in Pampanga were
given the first clean ancestral land ownership on Mount Pinatubo with the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) by
the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the government agency that deals with issues concerning
indigenous people of the Philippines. The approved and declared net land area of 7,440.1 hectares (18,385 acres) covers the
barangays of Mawakat and Nabuklod in Floridablanca, Pampanga, plus a portion of of San Marcelino, Zambales, and a
portion of Barangay Batiawan in Subic, Zambales.[24]
On January 14, 2010, some 7,000 Aeta families from Zambales were officially granted the Certificate of Ancestral Domain
Title (CADT) covering the Zambales side of Pinatubo which includes the summit and Lake Pinatubo, officially becoming their
lutan tua (ancestral land). The ancestral domain title covers 15,984 hectares (39,500 acres) and includes the villages of
Burgos, Villar, Moraza and Belbel in Botolan and portions of the towns of Cabangan, San Felipe and San Marcelino. Having the land title will protect them from others — including foreigners — from exploiting their land without compensation
to the indigenous tribes. In the past, the Aetas had to contend with mining companies, loggers, and recently, with tourists
who earn from Mount Pinatubo but do not compensate the local tribes. Ancestral domain titles are awarded to a certain community or indigenous group who have occupied or possessed the land
continuously in accordance with their customs and traditions since time immemorial. They have the legal right to collectively
possess and to enjoy the land and its natural resources to the exclusion of others. Pinatubo in popular culture
Long before Mt. Pinatubo became famous for its cataclysmic eruption, Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay, a native of
Zambales, named his C-47 presidential plane "Mt. Pinatubo". The plane crashed in 1957, killing the President and 24 others
onboard.
