Volcano, western Luzon , Philippines.
Located about 55 mi (90 km) northwest of Manila , it rose to a height of about 4,800 ft (1,460 m) before its eruption in 1991 (for the first time in 600 years). Its explosions produced a column of smoke and ash more than 19 mi (30 km) high and left some 100,000 people homeless. The ashfalls forced the evacuation and eventual closing of a nearby U.S. Air Force base. The eruption was one of the largest of the 20th century.