Modern Era · Southeast Asia · Disaster

1991

Mount Pinatubo Erupts

June 15, 1991

The second-largest volcanic eruption of the twentieth century blew the top off Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, ejecting ten cubic kilometers of ash and burying Clark Air Base under a gray shroud. Eight hundred people died; millions were displaced. Global temperatures dropped by half a degree for two years. The earth had coughed, and the climate flinched.

More from 1991 Modern Era

In context

Also in 1991 (6 other events on record)

Soviet Union dissolved · Europe · Politics
Yugoslavia begins to break up · Europe · War
World Wide Web opens to the public · Europe · Technology
Gulf War begins · Middle East · War
Soviet coup attempt · Europe · Politics
Yeltsin elected Russian president · Europe · Politics

Before and after in Southeast Asia

Before: February 25, 1986: Marcos flees Manila
After: July 2, 1997: Asian financial crisis

Before and after in Disaster

Before: April 15, 1989: Hillsborough disaster
After: January 17, 1995: Kobe earthquake strikes Japan

Era

Modern Era (1901–2000), one of 590 events from that era on Saeculum.

Sources

Wikipedia: Mount Pinatubo