The Philippines

LOCATION: The Philippines are found in the Pacific Ocean, east of the coast of Asia, in the tropics, north of the equator and south of the Tropic of Cancer. 

HAZARDS: - The Philippines lies on a plate boundry. It is a destructive plate boundry with a subduction zone where the Eurasian plate is forced beneth the Philippine plate.

This means the Philippines is prone to tetonic hazards, such as earthquakes and volcanoes. 

These can lead to other hazards. For example, earthquakes can trigger landslides and tsunamis.

- The Philippines lies in the tropics so also suffers from tropical storms and typoons. These often lead to flooding and can lead to landslides

The Philippines is an NIC so doesn't have a large capacity to deal with hazards e.g. Poor infrastructure, weak bulidings, poor heath care, little education, poor warning systems. 

(No warning systems doesn't apply to earthquakes as currently these cannot be predicted even in MEDCs)

CASE STUDIES: Mount Pinatubo: 

- Biggest eruption in the world for 50 years

- Showed signs of eurupting April 1991 withh steam explosions and minor earthquakes

- Government set up a 10 km exclusion zone, which was increased to 30 km. 

- 200 000 people were evactuated by 12th June 1991 when the first eruption sent an ash cloud 20 km into the air

- On 15th June Mount Pinatubo erupted for a second time. A dome on the side of the volcano collapsed, sending out a masisve pyroclastic flow and created huge lahars

- The death and injury toll was just over 4300 people- reduced by effective moitoring and management.

- 350 people died; 77 in the lahars

- Some died in camps where they were exposed to disease

- 80 000 hectares of farmland were buried

- Economic losses were US$710 million, mainly agriculture and property

Typoon Washi

- First noticed by the Joint Typoon Warning Centre on 12th December 2011

- Reached land on 16th December at Mindanao 

- Caused 10 hours of heavy rain, leading to…