1. Case Study – Philippines
Aims: to be able to describe and explain the hazards which impact on the Philippines

2. Where, what and why
The Philippines is a group of over 7000 islands in South East Asia.
It lies in a belt of tropical cyclones and astride an active plate boundary.
It’s capital is Manila, and is on the largest Island, Luzon.
The Pacific ocean is to the east, the South China sea to the West. Nearest neighbours include; Borneo China and Vietnam

3. Where, what and why
Task 1
Make a sketch drawing of the map in the centre of your page.
Add the following information:
Luzon Manilla
Mindanao Pacific
South China Sea
Taal Pinatubo
Mayon

4. Where, what and why
The Philippines became a Spanish Colony in the 16th Century, and a territory of the USA in the 20th Century, it eventually gained independence in 1935.
Religion is a predominantly Roman Catholic country.
The population of the country has increased 4fold over the last 50 years and now stands at 90 million.

5. Where, what and why Money – The Philippines is a NIC.
In 2007 GDP(pp) was US$5000 a ‘middle income country’ according to the World bank.
The economy is based on:
Agriculture
Mining
Manufacturing
Tourism

6. Where, what and why
Though the country is developing and is an NIC it is have difficulty matching the growth rates of it’s near neighbours, e.g. Malaysia this is because up to 20% of the Governments budget is spent on paying interest on oversea debt.
The GDP also hides large inequalities with the Philippines.
Some of the poorest people are forced to live and work in hazardous locations

7. Where, what and why
Climate – Much of The Philippines (normal conditions) has a Tropical climate. Temperatures are high all year, and rain tends to fall in a ‘rainy’ season. This climate has resulted in a huge variety of plants and animals, the Philippines is second only to Brazil in terms of biodiversity.

8. Where, what and why
Landscape – The Philippines is mostly mountainous with coastal lowlands. Most people tend to live on steeply sloping land.
The burden of debt has meant that the Philippines has had to exploit it’s natural resources, this has been done both in a formal and informal manor, and is a major contributing factor to hazard frequency and intensity

9. Task 2
Construct a fact file to describe the main human and physical characteristics of the Philippines.
Characteristics
Economy
Climate
Landscape

10. So what's the problem? No of events Total Killed Total Injured
Homeless
Total affected
Damage ($m)
Drought 6 8
6 million
64000
Earthquake 21
9580
13051
3985
2.25 million
844485
Flood 72
2716
570
500000
11.25 million
446361
Slide 25
2604
381
23000
310663
12258
Volcano 20
2996
1188
79000
1.5 million
23961
Tsunami 5 69
5250
6000
Typhoon
241
35983
29178
6.25 million
86 million
Disasters in the Philippines

11. So what's the problem? Example Drought
April 1998, 2.5 million severely affected
Earthquake
Manila (1990) 6000 killed
Flood
July 1972, 2.7 million affected
Slide
February 2006, 1126 killed
Volcano
Taal (July 1911) 1335 killed
Pinatubo (July 1991) 700 killed
Tsunami
Worst Tsunami in 1976
Typhoon
November 1991, 6000 killed

12. So what's the problem? Mt Pinatubo eruption 1991.
Biggest eruption in 50 years.
Scientist ‘predicted’ the eruption and a 10km exclusion zone was put in place. The Clark US military base was evacuated. The exclusion zone was expanded several times - more people were evacuated each time. The eruption was made up of several eruptions, pyroclastic flows and lahars (a tropical storm hit at the same time)

13. So what's the problem?
Task 3 - Copy the Venn diagram and classify the impacts of the Mt Pinatubo eruption.
Social
Economic
Environmental

14. So what's the problem? Task 4
Why does the Philippines suffer from volcanoes?
Explain the type of plate margin this is and what is happening along it.

15. Some questions
Explain how successfully you think the government agencies managed the threat of the Pinatubo eruption.
Research – two hazards that have affected the Philippines eg. Guinsaugon landslide.