EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE

CHAPTER 4: DANGER ZONE

NATURAL PROCESSES AND HAZARDS

Natural Hazard
- It is a naturally-occuring event or phenomenon that can potentially trigger a disaster and has an effect
on people.
- Examples include earthquakes, mud-slides, floods, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and drought.
- These physical events need not necessarily result in disaster.
- Geological, Hydrometeorological, and Coastal.

Natural hazards that can place the philippines’ communities at risk:

1. Earthquakes
2. Typhoons
3. Floods
4. Landslides
5. Volcanic Eruptions
6. Global Climate Change

Natural Disaster
- Refers to any natural hazard or threat that causes fatality or damage to property.
- It is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community.

Risk
- The product of hazards over which we have no control.
- It combines the probability of a disaster happening and the negative effects that result if the disaster
happens. ( increased by Vulnerabilities and decreased by Capacities )

TERMINOLOGY

Prevention
- Outright avoidance of the adverse affects of hazards/disasters.

Mitigation
- The process of lessoning or limitating the adverse affects of hazards/disasters.
 Preparedness
- Knowledge and capacities to effectively anticipate, respond to and recover from impacts of likely
hazard.

Risk Reduction
- Practice of reducing risks through systematic efforts to analyze and manage the casual factors of
disasters.

Response
- Provising of emergency services to save lives and meet the needs of people.

GEOLOGIC HAZARDS AND MITIGATION

Geologic Hazards
- Brought by earthquakes, earthquake-induced landslides, volcanic eruption, and tsunamis are due to
the movement of the plates and local concentrations of geologic heating.
- It causes great risk to both humans and humanmsde structures.

1. Earthquakes
- It is the shaking of the surface of the earth.
- Occurs along the boundaries of the tectonic plates of the earth’s crust.

Human causes of earthquake:

a. Nuclear Testing
b. Building large dams
c. Drilling for oil and gas
d. Coal mining

Factors affecting earthquake damage:

a. Strength and depth of earthquake, and number of aftershocks.
b. Population density
c. Time of Day
d. Types of rocks and sediments that buildings are built on.
e. Secondary Hazards
f. Economic Developments
 Top 10 provinces that are at risk for earthquakes:
1. Surigao del Sur
2. La Union
3. Benguet
4. Pangasinan
5. Pampanga
6. Tarlac
7. Ifugao
8. Davao Oriental
9. Nueva Vizcaya
10. Nueva Ecija

2. Landslides
- It causes permanent deformation as a result of the downward and outward movements of large
volumes of soil and rocks under the influence of the force of gravity.
- It can be triggered by 1) Water ( precipitation during a tropical storm or typhoon ) or 2) Vibrations
( earthquake ground shaking )

Landslide Hazards
a) Down-Slope movement of soil and rock ( can form an “earthquake lake” )
b) Down-Slope flow of wet soil ( aka. Mudflow, can bury a village or miners )
c) Lateral Spreading of soil and rock ( can damage infra-structure )

Contributors to risk
a) Hazards
b) Exposure
c) Vulnerability
d) Location

Top 10 provinces that are at risk for landslides:

1. Ifugao
2. Lanao del Sur
3. Sarangani
4. Benguet
5. Mountain Province
6. Bukidnon
7. Aurora
8. Davao del Sur
9. Davao Oriental
10. Rizal

3. Volcanic Eruptions
- The philippines lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire, which describes the distribution of most
volcanoes in the philippines.
- There are 22 historically-active volcanoes distributed all over the philippine archipelago.
- Volcanoes have erupted violently in the philippines as a result of complex interactions of the
philippine and eurasian plates.

Top 10 provinces at risk for volcanic eruptions:

1. Camiguin
2. Sulu
3. Biliran
4. Albay
5. Bataan
6. Sorsogon
7. South Cotabato
8. Laguna
9. Camarines Sur
10. Batanes

4. Tsunamis
- It is another hazard caused by earthquakes or seismic activities that affects the bodies of water.
- Huge mass of water with tremendous momentum.
- The philippines is constantly at risk for tsunami, being an archipelago located in the region of the
Pacific Ring of Fire.

Top 10 provinces at risk for tsunamis:

1. Sulu
2. Tawi - tawi
3. Basilan
4. Batanes
5. Guimaras
6. Romblon
7. Siquijor
8. Surigao del Norte
9. Camiguin
10. Masbate

HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA AND HAZARDS

Monsoon
- Prelevant winds in the philippines.
- A consistent reversal of wind pattern or wind system generated by a large weather system affecting a
large area over a period of several months.

2 prevailing wind patterns which affect the philippines

1. Southwest monsoon
- known as Habagat, which occurs within the month of May to October and brings the heavy rains to
the philippines.
2. Northwest monsoon
- known as Amihan, which occurs within the months of November to February.

Marine & Coastal Processes & Hazards

- Hazards of living near the coastlines includes dangers of waves, tides, erosion, floods, and saltwater
intrusion.

SUBMERSION & COASTAL EROSION

Coastal Erosion
- The processes of wave action, wave currents, and tidal currents wear away the land and removes
sediments near the coastline.

Waves
- are caused by wind and storms, causing large impacts around the coastline for the potential erosion,
flooding, and damages they may bring.
Tides
- The result of the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon on the oceans, causing the frequent rise
and fall of ocean levels.

Saltwater Intrusion
- When saline water moves into freshwater aquifers, which are the mains source of drinking water in
coastal areas, it oftens lead to contaminations.
- To imitigate the effects of saltwater intrusion, injection wells are built where freshwater is injected,
this creates hydraulic pressure or barrier to saltwater intrusion.