Word: volcanoe
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...futility, stunned Colombians turned their attention to assessing the damage and rebuilding their lives. The official count of the dead and missing topped 25,000, making the Nevado del Ruiz blowout one of the deadliest eruptions in recorded history. At least 8,000 people were left homeless by the volcano. Thousands of acres of prime agricultural land were destroyed. The threat of disease had to be curbed, along with a wave of looting and banditry. And there was the political fallout, with many charging that the government of President Belisario Betancur Cuartas had reacted too slowly when the crisis struck...
Many Colombians, who saw one heartrending human tragedy after another on television, were less generous. Some drew parallels between the government response to the volcano and the Nov. 7 crisis at Bogotá's Palace of Justice, where 100 people, including eleven Supreme Court justices, died during a furious gun battle between troops and M-19 guerrillas. "The army lost no time in blowing up the Justice Palace," says a Bogotá lawyer bitterly, "but they couldn't get a water pump to Armero to save the life of a little girl." Indeed, 13-year-old Omaira Sanchez had become a national...
Distrust of government pronouncements has helped create an almost constant panic among the tens of thousands of Colombians still huddled at the base of the smoldering volcano. Twice since the initial mudslide they have been sent scampering to high ground after false reports of new eruptions. "Is it going to explode again? Please tell me the truth," implored Norma Duque de Ramirez, a former telephone worker in the mountain city of Manizales, where an international team of volcanologists have gathered to study Nevado del Ruiz. The scientists were far from reassuring. "This volcano is potentially at the beginning of activity...
...made mountain in front of his new hotel, the rumor in town was that he was building a ski resort on the Strip. But Wynn Las Vegas, which opened in April, exudes an anti-Vegas, almost Buddhist quietude. There's no theme, no showstopper like the volcano he built outside the Mirage in 1989, the pirate ships he put outside Treasure Island in 1993 or the giant pond he created with fountains choreographed to songs for the front of the Bellagio in 1998. "Theme parks are a collection of wows," says the man who not so long ago turned Vegas...
...Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, New Jersey, (with financing from junk bonds floated by Michael Milken). His next big move put an indelible stamp on the Strip: Wynn opened the Mirage, a shimmering temple of camp, with white tigers behind glass in the lobby, Siegfried and Roy, and a volcano. Gambling was still the big money earner, but with Mirage, Wynn transformed Vegas into a middle-class family destination...