At the beginning of the story, what natural disaster has occurred? Why does Rolfe Carlé end up at the scene of the disaster?

“And of Clay Are We Created” is a story told in the aftermath of the 1985 Nevado del Ruiz volcanic eruption in northern Colombia.  The eruption triggered avalanches in the higher reaches of the mountains, and all the falling snow mixed with earthen debris to disastrous effect.  Allende powerfully describes it as

that fateful Wednesday night in November, when a prolonged roar announced the end of the world, and walls of snow broke loose, rolling...

“And of Clay Are We Created” is a story told in the aftermath of the 1985 Nevado del Ruiz volcanic eruption in northern Colombia.  The eruption triggered avalanches in the higher reaches of the mountains, and all the falling snow mixed with earthen debris to disastrous effect.  Allende powerfully describes it as

that fateful Wednesday night in November, when a prolonged roar announced the end of the world, and walls of snow broke loose, rolling in an avalanche of clay, stones, and water that descended on the villages and buried them beneath unfathomable meters of telluric vomit.  

So what we’re dealing with here is a volcanic eruption triggering avalanches, which led to devastating mudslides. 

Rolf Carlé ends up at the scene because he is a prominent television news reporter.  This status allows him helicopter access to the remote location of the disaster, and puts him first on the scene when the print journalists are trying to fight the elements to arrive by land.  The narrator says of Carlé:  “For years he had been a familiar figure in newscasts, reporting live at the scene of battles and catastrophes with awesome tenacity.”  He is therefore not only prominent, but also has years of disaster coverage on his resume.  This gives him senior access to the drama unfolding after the disaster – but of course he finds that this particular news story ends up affecting him far more than any he had covered before, in all those years of experience.