Survivors found their way to Clark Air Force Base, an abandoned U.S. facility just miles away, which quickly provided shelter and comfort. But the refugees soon began to feel unexplainable symptoms. Children were being born with horrific deformities, and the people became sicker and sicker. They eventually realised that certain areas around their new home had served as the toxic dump for American troops stationed at the airbase, rendering their water completely polluted. The government is outraged, and would like the U.S. military to pay for what it has done to their people. "They'd be in jail if they did this in America," according to Sergio Osmana of the Philippines government. Washington, of course, continues to deny responsibility. Meanwhile, Pinatubo's survivors are left to try to cope with their tragic existence in solitude and desolation. Look at two six-year old children: one who cannot walk or talk, or the other suffers from the same leukaemia which has already claimed several friends. A poignant piece on what the world's most powerful country can get away with anywhere but in its own backyard.

Produced by ABC Australia