Quote Originally Posted by 111prez View Post
Sorry. I was not able to read Fire and Mud.

What I do know is from experience during that time I was in Manila and it was all over the news that the US military was evacuating Subic and Clark.

I clearly remember that Phivolcs told the general public then that there was nothing to worry about.

Let's leave it at that, shall we, and continue with the discussion on Taal.
Sorry I remembered it differently, PHIVOLCS along with the Americans said evacuate but it was the local politicians and the populace who refused, batang 80s-90s ako sa Bulacan. Apologies but I'm afraid I will have to call you out for that wrong assertion.

Volcanic Hazard Communication at Pinatubo from 1991 to 215 | SpringerLink

Pinatubo 25 Years Later: Eight Ways the Eruption Broke Ground - Eos

"Language wasn’t the only obstacle. “One of our biggest challenges when we got to the Philippines was to actually convince people [that Pinatubo] was in fact a volcano,” Ewert said. Many locals accused the scientists from both PHIVOLCS and USGS of lying for financial gain or political reasons."

Punongbayan

"The issue of credibility was a difficult one. Residents and their leaders were understandably skeptical about phenomena that they had never seen and that they either could not or did not wish to imagine. Furthermore, we as scientists were largely unknown to those at risk. We were suspected of various faults, chiefly ignorance and utter foolishness, but also of trying to make sensational headlines, pursuing an academic agenda cloaked in concern, conducting counterinsurgency reconnaissance, being dupes of the U.S. military, raising funds for our agencies, land-grabbing, and more. Some unknown persons or groups also used PHIVOLCS' name during this time to fraudulently seek relief goods. Such distractions might have been ignored were it not for the urgency of convincing skeptics, especially those in positions of leadership. We did not want to close minds through unduly aggressive messages; neither did we want to be so meek that we were ignored."