Plymouth, Montserrat only ghost town that serves as the capital of a political territory. Beginning in July 1995, a series of huge eruptions at the Soufrière Hills volcano sent pyroclastic flows and ash falls across a wide area of southern Montserrat including the capital, Plymouth. It was immediately clear that the town was in grave danger. On 21 August 1995, tephra fell on Plymouth, and in December residents were evacuated as a precaution. Residents were allowed back a few months later, but on 25 June 1997, a massive eruption produced pyroclastic surges that killed 19 people and reached nearly to the island's
Long-Term Capital Management September, LTCM's equity tumbled from $2.3 billion at the start of the month to just $400 million by September 25. With liabilities still over $100 billion, this translated to an effective leverage ratio of more than 250-to-1. Long-Term Capital Management did business with nearly every important person on Wall Street. Indeed, much of LTCM's capital was composed of funds from the same financial professionals with whom it traded. As LTCM teetered, Wall Street feared that Long-Term's failure could cause a chain reaction in numerous markets, causing catastrophic losses throughout the financial system. After LTCM failed to raise more money on