Seismicity of The Philippines

Earthquakes are formed when the plates underneath the Earth’s surface move in different directions. These plates form a friction between each other in faults. It then sends a signal on an outward direction commonly known as seismic waves.

The Philippines lies along The Pacific Ring of Fire which causes lots of seismic waves and volcanic activity to happen in the country. Major tectonic plates meet in this region which causes a large number of earthquakes to happen. The Ring of Fire is an area in the Pacific Ocean where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen. It is horseshoe shape and associated with many oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts. It is sometimes referred to as the circum-pacific belt. About 90% of the world's earthquakes happen in The Ring of Fire. 

According to officials, there isn't much The Philippines can do. They must improve emergency training and enforce building codes and make sure money is going in the right places to help those whose homes are the most vulnerable. However since The Philippines consists of small islands and is located on The Ring of Fire which is a main alleyway for typhoons, The Philippines will never be disaster proof.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-the-philippines-natural-disasters-are-common-ways-to-reduce-impact-arent/2013/11/16/c0d77e24-4ecd-11e3-97f6-ed8e3053083b_story.html

Tectonic Plates

The Philippines is a part of the Eurasian Plate. The Eurasian plate consists of convergent boundaries. In a convergent boundary, tectonic plates move towards one another and collide in an active deforming area. Because of the pressure, friction, and plate material melting in the mantle, many earthquakes and volcanoes are common near convergent boundaries. In this destructive plate boundary, the subducting plate moves beneath the other plate. The subducting plate is usually a plate that contains oceanic crust and the other plate is usually made up of continental crust or oceanic crust as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_boundary

Hazards, Disasters, Catastrophes

According to our Geology textbook, "Natural Hazards and Disasters," by Donald Hyndman and David Hyndman, A hazard is dangerous and risky if there are people present and is an environment that could lead to a disaster or catastrophe if it affects people. A disaster causes significant damage, either to life or property. A catastrophe is very similar but it kills or injures a large number of people or causes major property damage. In, "Catastrophes are Different from Disasters," by E.L. Quarantelli, it is stated that in many catastrophes help from nearby communities cannot be provided because often nearby locations are also impacted as well as all or most of the residents. This happened in a lot of typical typhoons such as the Philippines. This semester I chose the Philippines as my country. The Philippines is a Southeast Asian country that consists of more than 7,000 islands.A lot of natural hazards tend to affect the Philippines.






This picture is of a disaster that happened in Samar Island, an island of the Philippines.