California v Philippines

• 7000 islands.
• Lies in a belt of tropical cyclones and on a plate boundary (The dense
  oceanic Philippines is being subducted beneath the Eurasion Plate.)
• Suffers from
  heavy rainfall to due to monsoon climate.Flooding leads to landslides, as the area is deforested.
• 240 people per km^2.High coastal population. E.g.Luzon province.
• 91 million population.
• $5000 per capita

• 40 million people

• Economy is 6^th best in the world
  (Higher than France)

• More than 70% of the people live within 50km of
  the San Andreas fault

• 20% of LA residents live below the poverty line

Mt Pinatubo, June 1991

• Biggest the world had seen for 50 years.
• Tried to plan for it- made a video outlining
  risks of Pyroclastic flows.
• 350 people died, 77 from lahas, some from
  disease in the evacuee camps.
• 80,000 hectares of farmland buried in ash.
• 500,000 farmers lost their livelihoods.
• $710 million economic loss

• Not been an eruption in California since 1915-Lassen park

• July 1990
• 7.7 magnitude.
• 1666 dead.
• 3500 injured.
• $300 million economic loss.
• 100,000 homes destroyed.
• Two million people suffered as a result.
• Landslides.
• Destroyed infrastructure including a dam

Los Angeles

• 17^th Jan 1994
• 6.7 magnitude
• San Fernando Valley, Northern LA
• Thousands of aftershocks 4-5
• 57 people died
• 1500 seriously injured
• 12500 buildings damaged (25% serious to
  moderate)
• 9000 homes + businesses no electricity for days. 20,000 without gas.48500 people without water
• .Damage to freeways- 30km traffic choked.
• $500 million damage

Guinsaugon Landslide, Feb 2006

• The mudslide covered 3km² 
•  killed 1150 people.
• Physical causes: 2000mm of rain fell in 10 days
  (In the dry season), La Nina probably caused this, a 2.6 mag earthquake struckand could of triggered it
• Human causes: Deforestation unbinding the soil,replacement of natural forest by shallow rooted trees.
• 1905-2007: 2604 people killed in landslides affected 310,000 people.

• Earthquake induced.
• Steep unstable hillsides above Los Angeles surround it like a bowl, winter rain storms destabilise the ground.
• Geology-loosely consolidating sands and gravels and impermeable clays around Santa Monica.
• Building on steep slopes = further hazard
  increase.
• 2003-campsite disasters are outside LA.  Series of landslides kills 16.  Wildfires  removed vegetation = unstable
  slopes. 
• The worst rainfall for 20 years increased the risk. 

• Common impact of typhoon rains.
• Squatter settlements on riverbanks vulnerable.
• Low-lying areas have inadequate drainage systems.
• July 1972: central and southern Luzon, most of Manila was underwater.
• 600 dead, 370,000 homeless, 250,000 hectares of rice damaged.
• In 1995 a flash flood on Mindanao island resulted in $20 million of
  damage to infrastructure and agriculture.
• Mountainous regions also susceptible, as well as
  low-lying floodplains.

• Coastal floods link to storm surges-long beach recently  devastated
• Flash floods (October-January)-encouraged by steep relief of drainage
  basins and deforestation example: Sierra Nevada and coastal range.
• LA experiences flash floods every year-1995 was the worst.
• 1995-Heaviest snowfalls due to climate change and the El Nino led to minor avalanches and huge surges in spring months due to melt water.
• 1995-eight deaths-LA to San Francisco highway washed away
• 38 countiesdesignated emergency areas.
• Rivers have been heavily channelized will try toavoid flooding.

• 1905-2007: there were six droughts and eight deaths.
• Six million people affected.
• April 1998 2.5 million affected
• 1986-1987 was the worst drought which affected the whole country.
• In 1989 there was a droughts where crops died. 
• Major food shortages after the Pinatubo 1991 eruption.

• Caused by anticyclones = dry air = dry weather.
  Also caused by La Nina events.
• Winds from the Arizona Desert = no moisture = no precipitation.
• Overuse of water in naturally dry climate due to
  population pressure.