Mt.

Pinatubo
 Topography
 Eruption
 Aftermath
 Lahar Control Structures

TOPOGRAPHY
•  Pinatubo means a fertile place where crops can be made to grow.
• Elevation: 1,485 m (4,900 ft)
• Volcano Type: Stratovolcano
• Exact Location: Central part of the Zambales mountain range
Note: intersection of the borders of the provinces of Zambales, Tarlac,
and Pampanga.
• Mountain range: Zambales Mountains
• Provinces: Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales
• Regions: Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales

TOP VIEW

ERUPTION

ERUPTION FAST FACTS

• For 400 years, Mt. Pinatubo has been dormant
• Mt Pinatubo’s eruption was one of the most destructive in its time
• that happened on June 15, 1991
• Second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.
• Ash cloud was 35,000 meters high
• Volcanic ash reached the Indian ocean, and other west neighboring countries like India, Vietnam and Cambodia
• 7000 Aetas resided in the slopes of the mountain.
• Before Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991 it has no crater. Now it has a 2.5 km diameter caldera with 80m depth of
water
Pinatubo erupted again in late August 1992, killing more than 72 people.
• 1999, it was opened to public.
• Swimming is prohibited so the waters wont be polluted.
• 200 separate earthquakes were detected for 24 hours.
• The earthquakes could be because of the geothermal
• movement of steam and superheated water.
 • The volcanic eruption is a natural phenomenon that cannot
be stopped but can be escaped
• Typhoon Yunya made the eruption catastrophe worse.
• People’s house lasts barely 15 minutes before collapsing
under immense load of volcanic mud (lahar)

AFTERMATH
• 900 CASUALTIES
• ALMOST 800,000 LIVESTOCK KILLED
• 800 SQ.M OF RICE GROWING FARMLAND DESTROYED
• 364 COMMUNITIES AFFECTED, 2.1 MILLION PEOPLE, 8000
HOUSES DEVASTATED
• The ashfalls forced the evacuation and eventual closing
of U.S.-leased Clark Air Force Base
• Communities became a lifeless black and white world
• It significantly altered global temperature for the next three years .
• Global climate was affected
• Ashfall reached other countries.
• Agricultural lands became infertile.
• Areas affected by pyroclastic flows, lahar deposition, and lake flooding in the southwest sector of Mount
Pinatubo. Arrows indicate possible avulsion sites for future lahars along the Santo Tomas River system as
delineated by the Pinatubo Lahar Hazard Taskforce (as of August 23, 1991). Lettered sections shown in figure 6. 

LAHAR CONTROL STRUCTURES

 In 1995, a 56-kilometer U-shaped mega dike costing P2.7 billion was built as a catch basin for the Pasig-Potrero
River, which has become the main avenue for the lahars.
• Remnants of prehistoric eruptions are evident in what is known as Porac sand - fine sand popular in the
construction industry and found abundantly and quarried openly along Pampanga’s riverbeds.
• Quarry operations contribute as much as P40 million daily to the province’s earnings and employing thousands
of locals.
• They also built within the other structures, including the transverse dike across the lower reaches of the river, to
soften the impact of lahar flows on the lower bend of the megadike as well as the “tail dike” which served as
additional protection.
• The FVR Megadike, named after former President Fidel V. Ramos, was built after lahar, or volcanic sediments
remobilized by rain, overflowed from the Pasig-Potrero River on Oct. 1, 1995, burying Bacolor town.
• The U-shaped, 56-kilometer long structure turned 17 Bacolor villages into a large catch basin of lahar. The
megadike is considered Pampanga province’s last defense when it was completed with a transverse dike in
1997.
• Since then, it has undergone retrofitting, with the government spending P3 billion to strengthen it, said Isabelita
Manalo, assistant project director of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) Unified Project
Management Office-Flood Control Management Cluster.

LAHAR DIVERSION STRUCTURES

• Lahars can be prevented from spreading out and depositing in critical areas by keeping them channelized in
modified natural channels or by engineering new channels.
• Must be sufficiently smooth, steep, and narrow (to maintain sufficient flow depth) in order to prevent in-channel
deposition
• channel bottoms and sides must be lined with concrete or stone masonry surfaces. Even so, hardened diversion
channels may require frequent maintenance.
• Deflection and diversion structures also can be employed to reroute or redirect lahars away from critical
infrastructure or communities.