The Philippines

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THE PHILIPPINES

INTRODUCTION

  • Made up of 7000 islands

  • Population of 91 million

  • GDP in 2006 was $50,000 per capita (classed as a middle-income by the World Bank)

  • Mostly a mountainous landscape with coastal lowlands.

  • Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate

  • Eurasian Plate is forced beneath the Philippine Plate, creating the deep Manila Ocean Trench

  • Destructive plate boundary

  • In the Ring of Fire

Volcanoes:

  • Near a destructive plate boundary, where the Philippine plate is being subducted beneath the Eurasian plate

  • Islands were formed by a combination of folding at the boundary and volcanoes formed from magma that had risen

  • Mount Pinatubo is a volcano that erupted in 1991- Many people were evacuated, buildings collapsed, crops were destroyed and agricultural land was ruined by falling ash

Earthquakes:

  • The Philippine plate and Eurasian plate can become locked together as one moves under the other- This causes the pressure to build up- When the pressure is too much the plates jerk past each other, causing an earthquake

  • Earthquakes also occur at fault lines in the area, where the plate has cracked under pressure

  • An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 occurred on Luzon Island in 1990, killing over 1500 people

Landslides:

  • The Philippines gets a lot of rain- If a lot falls in a short space of time in areas with steep slopes, landslides can occur

  • Landslides can also be triggered by earthquakes

  • A landslide occurred on Leyte Island in 2006 after heavy rainfall for 10 days. A whole village was buried, killing hundreds

Typhoons:

  • The Philippines has around 10 typhoons every year

  • They develop over the Pacific ocean and move westwards over the islands.

  • Typhoon Xangsane swept across Manila and the surrounding denselt populated area in the North in 2006- High winds and torrential rain destroyed homes and caused flooding, landslides and the loss of power and water

Tsunamis:

  • Earthquakes in any of the oceans surrounding the Philippines could cause a Tsunami

  • In 1976 an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 caused a tsunami that hit the coastline around the Moro Gulf on the southern island of Mindanao- Thousands were killed and several cities were devastated

Droughts:

  • Some parts of the Philippines have a distinct wet and dry season, for example Manila is dry between November and April, and wet between May and October

  • Droughts can occur when the wet season hasn't brought enough rain to last the dry season or the dry season is particularly harsh

  • There was a drought on Luzon Island in 2005- The reduction in rainfall decreased water flow in rivers which affected power production in hydroelectric power plants- This affected power supply to the entire region Without power for an extended period, economic and social activity was severely reduced.

Flooding:

  • During the wet season, floods can be caused by typhoons and heavy rain

  • Flooding affects many areas, even some that are also affected by drought

  • Major floods occurred in the lowland areas around Manila in the 1970's and in recent years- Crops were devastated in this major rice growing region

PHILIPPINES EXAMPLES

Comments

sophiekatina

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Very useful thanks

insy1

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thank you

deniscox

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This is a cool tip for tourists or people interested in geography. I recently searched for information about cultural places in this country. I recommend reading a few of these tips https://phdessay.com/free-essays-on/philippines/ for those who are creative. The Philippines is a cult place with its own flavor. I am confident that tourism will continue to grow in popularity.