WATCHING GOD CREATE(?) –UP CLOSE!
July 1st 2008 05:09
While uploading posts to Orble’s Travel Channel, I noticed that many entries from other writers feature beautiful man-made places around the world. So, I raked my brain for man-made places in the Philippines that I can write about. But that’s not what I found.
What I found was a “creation” in progress - though I am not sure if anyone will ever agree that, that is what this is.
It all started with a fissure in the Mt. Pinatubo area back in April 1991 (earthquakes actually started it, but the 1.5km fissure with steam vent attracted the attention) in this area near the tri-boundaries of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga provinces.
A TV crew which was sent to check the event, and to come up with possible stories, found an Aeta settlement just a few kilometers from where a steam was coming out of a fissure near the summit of the volcano.
Things developed rather fast that, in a period of just more than two months, in June 1991, the events at Mt. Pinatubo has turned into the world’s largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.
Part of the devastation
The reporter of the TV crew that went to the place prior to the eruption wanted to find out what happened to the Aetas in the village near the summit. So he, along with his team, tried to find their way back there a few days after the biggest eruption, but they could no longer recognize the way to the exact location.
Leaving their vehicle at a high embankment of Maraunot River, they went up that path in the lower picture on foot…
And found this:
They checked inside...
Sometimes, reporters are like the curious cat, they always want to know what lay beyond… Wanting to see more, they tried to push a little bit more on the way up, but they encountered this,
They had to turn back and scramble for safety. Their assistant cameraman suffered some injuries…they had no choice but to abandon the plan.
Back at the embankment near their vehicle, a lone foreigner, who claimed to be a correspondent of the National Geographic awaits, his rented 4x4 Pajero had a busted radiator and needed a ride. The Pajero still runs, fixed by the Filipino driver the way Filipino drivers fix vehicles in emergencies, but the lone foreigner needed some kind of assurance. They accomodated him and they all rode to safety. The Pajero followed behind.
Looking up that mountain again many times later, the reporter wondered what would become of it after the volcano’s anger has subsided. A year or so after the eruption, he and another TV crew took the opportunity to ride a UH1H (Huey) military helicopter upon the invitation of a police general to survey the surroundings of the volcano and to fly inside the crater.
They saw the massive deposits of "Lahar" that would soon cause further destructions in the provinces around the volcano, but there was nothing much inside the crater except for a small concentration of water at the bottom of it.
But in 2005, he saw this:
And then again this, almost a year later
The reporter is not one to question the motives of nature in making so much destructions, but after seeing how the Mt. Pinatubo caldera now look like, he wondered what else is afoot in this area, in nature’s own sweet time…
And he wondered if he has not actually seen a process of creation, up close
What I found was a “creation” in progress - though I am not sure if anyone will ever agree that, that is what this is.
It all started with a fissure in the Mt. Pinatubo area back in April 1991 (earthquakes actually started it, but the 1.5km fissure with steam vent attracted the attention) in this area near the tri-boundaries of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga provinces.
Mt. Pinatubo pre-eruption pic source: Wikipedia
A TV crew which was sent to check the event, and to come up with possible stories, found an Aeta settlement just a few kilometers from where a steam was coming out of a fissure near the summit of the volcano.
Part of the TV crew while taking a rest, rising steam visible in the background to the right
June 1991 Pinatubo eruption source: Wikipedia
Part of the devastation
Collapsed hangar at Clark Air Base, Angeles Pampanga. Source: Wikipedia
The reporter of the TV crew that went to the place prior to the eruption wanted to find out what happened to the Aetas in the village near the summit. So he, along with his team, tried to find their way back there a few days after the biggest eruption, but they could no longer recognize the way to the exact location.
Landscape before and after the eruption. Source: Wikipedia
Leaving their vehicle at a high embankment of Maraunot River, they went up that path in the lower picture on foot…
And found this:
A settlement school. Picture taken around 10a.m.
They checked inside...
Inside a classroom at Villar Settlement site, Botolan, Zambales
Sometimes, reporters are like the curious cat, they always want to know what lay beyond… Wanting to see more, they tried to push a little bit more on the way up, but they encountered this,
A giant cloud of pyroclastic materials rolling down the slope of Mt. Pinatubo. Grabbed from a video taken by the crew
They had to turn back and scramble for safety. Their assistant cameraman suffered some injuries…they had no choice but to abandon the plan.
Back at the embankment near their vehicle, a lone foreigner, who claimed to be a correspondent of the National Geographic awaits, his rented 4x4 Pajero had a busted radiator and needed a ride. The Pajero still runs, fixed by the Filipino driver the way Filipino drivers fix vehicles in emergencies, but the lone foreigner needed some kind of assurance. They accomodated him and they all rode to safety. The Pajero followed behind.
Looking up that mountain again many times later, the reporter wondered what would become of it after the volcano’s anger has subsided. A year or so after the eruption, he and another TV crew took the opportunity to ride a UH1H (Huey) military helicopter upon the invitation of a police general to survey the surroundings of the volcano and to fly inside the crater.
They saw the massive deposits of "Lahar" that would soon cause further destructions in the provinces around the volcano, but there was nothing much inside the crater except for a small concentration of water at the bottom of it.
But in 2005, he saw this:
Mt. Pinatubo crater and lake in 2005. Source: Wikipedia
And then again this, almost a year later
Mt. Pinatubo crater and lake in 2006. Source: Wikipedia
The reporter is not one to question the motives of nature in making so much destructions, but after seeing how the Mt. Pinatubo caldera now look like, he wondered what else is afoot in this area, in nature’s own sweet time…
And he wondered if he has not actually seen a process of creation, up close
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Comment by Fobzy
Fobz
No need to meditate to-day, now.