Philippines

• The Philippines


  • Group of 7000 islands located in South-East Asia in the Pacific Ocean
  • Only 2000 islands are inhabitable
  • Main islands include: Luzon, Mindanao, Palawan and Panay
  • Located on the ring of fire
• Plate tectonics


  Oceanic philippine plate is being subducted below the eurasian plate, forming island arcs
• Volcanoes in the Philippines

  • 37 volcanoes, 18 of which are active eg. Mount Mayon, Mount Pinatubo and Taal Volcano
• One of the largest earthquakes hit Luzon island, 7.7 on the Richter scale


  July 1990
• 1990 Luzon earthquake


  • Affected the cities of Baguio, Cabanatuan and Dagupan
  • Killed 1600 people, injured 3000 and destroyed 20,000 buildings
• Earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 caused a tsunami that hit the coastline around the Moro Gulf


  1976
• Thousands were killed and cities were left devastated by the 1976 tsunami
• Storms in the Philippines

  • 10 storms each year eg. Typhoon Haiyan in 2013
• The Philippines was hit by typhoons Angela and Dan, resulting in 159 deaths and 500,000 people were made homeless


  1989
• Mount Unzen, a dormant volcano, erupted after being predicted by scientific monitoring

  June 1991
• Only 39 people died in the 1991 Mount Unzen eruption
• Mount Pinatubo, an extinct volcano, erupted after being dormant for 600 years


  June 9th 1991
• Mount Pinatubo eruption


  • Scattered ash and rock, and earth tremors of 5.34 on the Richter scale
  • Caused by a major earthquake on 16th July 1990
  • Killed 1600 people and injured 3000
  • Spewed 20 million tonnes of material into the atmosphere
  • Clouds of hot gas and ash got up to speeds of 80 km/h
  • Combined with a typhoon on June 15th-16th left 200,000 people homeless due to landslide
  • Mudslides covered 500,000 hectares of farmland and 100,000 homes
  • Left people without electricity for 3 weeks, water became contaminated and roads/telecommunication links were destroyed
  • Epidemic of respiratory and gastric diseases broke out and 600,000 people lost their jobs
  • Mudslides have occurred annually and eroded hillsides
  • Over 200,000 people were evacuated in the first warning
• Volcano Taal erupted, resulting in 1334 deaths, ash and debris


  1911
• Taal Volcano


  • The island on Lake Taal is home to less than 4000 people and the economy is based on fishing, agriculture, mining and tourism as it is home to fertile soils
  • Population growth is 9.6% a year, and in the case of an eruption, only half the population can evacuate on the supply of boats
• The people had very little anxiety as their views differed because of different needs, priorities, perceptions and values
• Monitoring techniques and instruments were successfully applied
• Eruption of Mount Pinatubo was accurately predicted
• Hazard zonation maps were prepared a month before the Mount Pinatubo eruption
• Alert and warning system and disaster response machinery was mobilised on time
• Human activity is responsible for the increasing number of hazards
• Deforestation


  • A big problem and is out of control
  • Cutting policies are abused, forestry inspections are insufficient and there is widespread illegal logging
• The main problem of deforestation is landlessness - people not having security over the land
• There is large-scale migration to urban areas in search of work and squatter settlements build up on steep slopes or wasteland
• 10% of the population live in self-built housing
• In Manila, there are 400 slums which is vulnerable to flooding
• Lowland had been taken over by rice farming, clearing land makes it vulnerable to heavy rain and high winds
• The result is increased siltation, and increased flooding downstream
• Disaster risk reduction measures

  • Preventing people building in areas of disaster risk
  • Adapting new and existing buildings
  • Building embankments
  • Increasing public awareness
  • Monitoring hazards and developing early warning systems
• Communities understand the risk of hazards having experienced them before
• People prepare for the hazards themselves
• Funding was only available after the disaster occurred which meant no money went into prevention or preperation