Philippines - Multi-hazardous Environment Flashcards
Where is the Philippines, and what is the population?
South East Asia, archipelago of over 7,000 islands.
114 million population, high population density, especially in Manilla.
What is the economy like?
NEE, lower-middle income country.
Where is it tectonically located?
Western rim of ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, which brings both earthquakes and volcanic activity from the Philippine plate converging and subducting.
Aside from tectonically, how does it’s location lead to natural disasters?
Tropical storms from Pacific towards SE Asia, most exposed country in the world to tropical storms. Storms bring flooding and landslides. Being multi-hazardous makes hazards harder to deal with.
Discuss the Philippines in relation to earthquakes.
- Fairly common, 12.6 thousand in 2021, but mainly of low magnitude.
- Most damaging was 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake, killing around 8,000. Caused tsunami waves.
Discuss the Philippines in relation to volcanoes.
- 23 active volcanoes
- Most active is Mayon, erupting most recently in 2023.
- ^ noted for it’s lahars as volcanic ash mixes with heavy rainfall from tropical storms.
- Use Pinatubo example. 847 killed, 1.2 million people displaced. Could have been much worse (death), as they used hazard mapping, seismometers and tilt meters to give daily updates and evacuate. Saved 5,000 people. Even produced a new layer hazard map after eruption for future lahars.
Discuss the Philippines in terms of tropical storms.
- Known as “the most exposed country in the world to tropical storms”.
- About 20 tropical storms a year, of which 5 will be destructive.
- Happen all year, most active is June-Sept.
- Typhoons mainly affect the North.
What are some other hazards affecting the Philippines?
- Tsunamis; 1976, hitting Moro Gulf coastline at 45m high.
- Landslides/mudslides; use Typhoon Haiyan eg.
- Flooding; very often.
- Drought; Luzon drought 2005.
- Lahars
What are some factors affecting the vulnerability of the Philippines?
- Densely populated - Manilla and Luzon especially.
- Most people located at coast.
- As population has increased, more deforestation for agriculture etc, which reduces interception, increasing flooding and landslides.
- Settlements had been built near Pinatubo as it had been named dormant.
- Widespread economic deprivation.
- Need money for recovery, none left for protective measures.
Describe the Philippines disaster management systems.
Focus more on response and recovery, when in reality they need to be focussing on mitigation and preparation to prevent as disastrous impacts in the future. Disaster management cycle suggests this. They are currently using a top-down approach, where the community needs to be more involved and resilience built on a community scale.
How is vulnerability being reduced in the Philippines?
- Red Cross aid being directed towards communities, to reduce impacts of natural disasters by encouraging people to protect their lives and resources rather than depending on governments. Building their own resilience. Such plans include partnership with government bodies eg EU to gain financial support for mitigation measures and to ensure programmes have long-term sustainability, training local volunteers in disaster management, land-use mapping to identify risk, initiating mitigation measures (clean water supplies, sea walls, evacuation plans etc) and information to the whole community.
How can you describe Filipino people in terms of disaster?
A) Resilient in the face of problems living in a multi-hazardous environment.
B) Having fatalistic attitudes, and have just accepted it as part of life instead of trying to mitigate impacts fully.
How are they trying to adapt long-term?
Government committing to making differences long-term, however money not always spent wisely. Due to island nature, too much responsibility is on government. UN claim Philippines has one of best risk-reduction laws in the world, but these aren’t always implemented. Recent government legislation calls for 70% of disaster spending to be used on long-term plans, and only 30% to aid.
How does Japan contrast?
- HIC.
- Another multi-hazardous environment, with earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes.
- They have put more resources into mitigation, such as pyramid shaped skyscrapers and “earthquake awareness day”.
- Easier for them as they are a HIC and have more money to spend on it.
- Multi-hazards mean some mitigation strategies are also bad eg strong roofs=good for typhoon but bad for earthquake.
