From 1903 to 1991, Clark Air Base Command (CABCOM) on Luzon Island in the Philippines served as a staging ground for successive American wars of foreign intervention. The base provided the U.S. military with the strategic positioning necessary to enact campaigns in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq, eventually becoming America's largest overseas air base and the world's most urbanized military facility. Vapor Trail (Clark) bears solemn witness to this chapter in our nation's history, bringing into relief the grim historical forces at the heart of America's century-old involvement in the Philippines, where the demands of commerce, made sacrosanct by the tenets of Manifest Destiny, compelled the U.S. to expand its borders into the Asian-Pacific region. In June 1991, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century, laid waste to a huge section of CABCOM, destroying 40,000 homes and displacing some 250,000 Filipinos. In November 1991, a hastily engineered exit agreement turned the base over to a Filipino government deep in crisis. Abandoned and looted by scavengers, CABCOM was repurposed as a housing facility for those left homeless by the eruption--an expedient, reckless action with dire and horrific consequences. Families living in the camp, as well as those in the miserably poor indigenous communities immediately adjacent to it, began to experience nightmarish illnesses. Public health officials and environmental regulators deemed the region's alarming rise in infant mortality the result of CABCOM having been left to ecological ruin. Toxic chemicals originating from the base had severely polluted the streams of Pampanga Province, the area's primary fresh water source, resulted in rampant blood poisoning and numerous deaths, particularly among children. As to why these conditions were allowed to persist, there has never been an official explanation by either the American or Filipino government, much less a unified cleanup effort--only reassurances to a myriad of foreign investors that the area is now safe for future development.
OCLC:
(OCoLC)876043001
Locations:
OVUX522 -- University of Iowa Libraries (Iowa City)
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.