Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The Philippines- Disaster Hotspot
- Southeast Asia
- Above the equator in the tropic of cancer
- Made up of 7,107 islands
- Latitudes between 5 and 20 degrees North of the equator
- Lies in a belt of tropical cyclones
- Lies across the Eurasian plate and the Philippines plate boundaries
- Destructive plate boundary
- Oceanic plate subducted
- In the Pacific ocean
- North of Indonesia
- South of Taiwan
- East of Vietnam
- Within the 'Ring of Fire'
- Disaster hotspot
- Prone to Earthquakes and Typhoons
- 73rd largest independent nation
- Over 186,000 sq. miles in size
- Topography of the islands is mostly mountainous with narrow to large coastal lowlands
- Divided into three main geographic areas : Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao
- Highest mountain is Mount Apo at 2,954 meters in height
- The Philippines deepest point is the Philippine Deep at 10,057 meters below sea level
- Approx, 1,000 of its islands are populated and less than 50% of these are larger than 2.5 square kilometres
- Eleven islands make up 94% of the Philippine landmass
- Has one of the longest coastlines of any nation in the world
- Most Filipinos live on or near the coast
- Earthquakes
- Earthquakes are very violent
- May go up to 9.0 on the Richter scale
- The Philippines plate is
subducted beneath the
Eurasian plate causing
vast amounts of
friction
- 100% of the Philippines is at risk from Earthquakes
- Moro Gulf Earthquake
- August 17th 1976 at 00:11 local time
- Magnitude 8.0
- Tsunami warning was given
- Major aftershock of 6.8
- Many smaller aftershocks
- Death toll of a recorded 5,000 but possibly up to 8,000
- A massive tsunami devastated 700km of coastline
- 10,000 injured
- 90,000 homeless
- Waves from tsunami reached 4-5 meters
- The tsunami was responsible for 85% of deaths, 65% of injuries and 95% of those missing
- Volcanoes
- Explosive and destructive
- As the Philippines plate sinks below the Eurasian plate it melts due to the direction in the subduction zone.
- The crust becomes molten called magma which is then forced to the surface
- Composite volcano
- At destructive plate boundaries the lava is viscous and it cannot flow very far from the volcanoes vent
- Steep sided
- The volcanoes erupt violently because the rapidly hardened rock blocks the vents and allows pressure to build up under the blocked vent
- Volcanoes can lead to dangerous lahars
- Mount Pinatubo
- June 1991
- Biggest eruption globally in over 50 years
- Had been dormant for 500 years
- First sign wwas 16th July 1990 when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck 60 miles northeast of Mount Pinatubo
- In March and April 1991, magma started rising towards
the surface from more than 20 miles beneath Pinatubo.
- Many thousands of tons of noxious suphur dioxide gas were emitted
- A 10km exclusion zone was set up around Pinatubo by government advisers who eventually extended this to 30km
- Two weeks before the eruption the government produced a video outlining the risks of pyroclastic flows and lahars
- On June 7th 1991, the first
magma reached the surface
butmerely oozed from the vent
- June 12th was the first big explosion
- June 15th a huge
eruption took place
ejecting more than 5 cu.
kms. of volcanic material
- Ash clous rose 22 miles into the air
- Volcanic
deposits filled
deep valleys
as much as
660ft. thick
- The eruption removed so much magma and rock that the summit
collapsed to form a large volcanic depression or caldera 1.6 miles across
- Caused global temperatures to drop about 0.5 degrees temporarily
- 20,000 people displaced
- 200,000 people evacuated
- 847 people died
- 4,300 people died and were injured
- Economic losses were US$710 million
- Typhoons
- Lies within a major typhoon belt
- Susceptible to tropical storms
- Affected by 15 typhoons and struck by
around 5 or 6 a year
- Begins over warm water (26 degrees)
- Between latitudes of 5 and 20 degrees
- 70m deep minimum
- Coriolis effect needed
- Dissipates as it moves over land
- Can lead to landslides
- High winds and rainfall
- Typhoon Bopha (Pablo)
- Strongest tropical cyclone to ever hit the southern Philippine island
- Category 5 super typhoon
- Winds of 160mph
- Originated unusually close to the equator
- December 4th 2012
- Affected more than 213,000 people
- More than 179,000 people were in evacuation centers
- The death toll reached 1,067
- 850 people still missing in February
- Floods and landslides caused major damage
- Landslides
- Guinsaugon
- Central Philippines
- 10:30am on 17th February 2006
- Cliff face along the Philippine fault collapsed
- Up to 10 smaller landslides had occurred in previous weeks
- Buried a local elementary school killing 245 students and 6 teachers - only 1 child and 1 adult were saved
- Killing around 1,150 people
- Engulfed the village covering 3km sq.
- A 2.6 magnitude earthquake may have triggered the slide
- Unseasonable torrential rain linked to La Nina
- Relief efforts hampered by blocked roads and lack of heavy equipment
- Tsunamis
- The Northern and Eastern coasts face the Pacific Ocean - the most tsunami prone in the world
- The great size of the Pacific ocean and the destructive earthquakes combine to produce deadly tsunamis
- In less than a day, these tsunamis can travel from one side of the Pacific to the other
- People living near areas where large earthquakes occur may find that the tsunami waves will each their shores within minutes of an earthquake
- Lower middle income country with a GDP of $5,000 per capita
- 18th fasted development rate with an average 18.5% annual increase
- HDI of 0.75
- Uncontrolled deforestation
- Destroying natural protection along the coasts
- Population has more than tripled since 1948 from 19 million to 92 million in 2009
- Population growth stood at 2,02% from 1995 to 2000
- Rapidly increasing young population
- 15-64 year olds make up 59% of the population
- Under 15s make up 37% of the population
- Over 65s make up only 4% of the populaiton
- Median age is 22.2 based on 2010 statistics
- High population density - 240 people per km sq. on average
- In Megacity Manila this number is 2,000 people per km sq.
- On a scale of 1-7 - with 1 being extremely
underdeveloped and 7 extensive and efficient by global
standards - roads in the Philippines scored a low 3
- By 2002, 89.1% of the population had access to electricity and then 93.7% in 2005
- Poor roads and infrastructure
- 41.3% mobile users in 2005
- 4/100 people use landline phones - 2005
- Access to quality water sources is relatively high at 85% in 2002
- Access to improved sanitation facilities, was at 73% in 2002
- The number of people living on less than $1 a day remained constant over the 1981-1995 period
- Disaster preparedness in schools - educating schools
- Early warning, forecasting and monitoring systems have been improved
- El Nino Drought
- February 2010
- 2.5 million metric tonnes of rice and corn were lost
- 800,000 hectares of fields effected
- Economic losses of US$33 million
- Government provided 6,000 water pumps