The Philippines is frequently subjected to various types of hazards and it has been

observed to be increasing throughout the years. Its geographical location and physical
environment make it vulnerable to natural hazards such as tropical cyclones, floods, extreme
rainfall, thunderstorm (TSTM), storm surges, strong winds, tornado and others. Every year,
these hazards bring havoc to life and property, seriously disrupt our agriculture-based economy
and disturb the lives of millions of Filipino families..

Disasters cannot always be prevented, but its disastrous effects can certainly be
mitigated if appropriate measures are adopted. This can be achieved by prper understanding of
the hazards and the threat posted by them.

For hazard mapping, basic information and observational data on meteorological and
hydrological hazards in terms of nature, frequency and magnitude will be gathered, computer
processed, validated and analyzed. to locate the hazard, historical records are used to identify
critical hazard zone. The result of analysis is usually presented in the form of maps that shows
the type and degree of hazard in a given geographical location. Hydrometeorological hazard
maps showing the places and frequency of occurrences of hydrometeorological hazards such as
tropical cyclones, flooding, TSTM, storm surge, extreme wind, extreme rainfall and other
hazards will be prepared and documented.

In vulnerability analysis, the availability of more information such as socio-economic

profile of the area will be very helpful. Having this information, it is possible to identify
geographically, with reasonable accuracy, those elements (i.e. settlements, communities and
assets) that are more particularly susceptibe to damage and destruction from a hazard. This
can be done by relating the hazard to human settlement and its built environment. The results
of vulnerability analysis are also presented in the form of maps.

Hazards
Hazards may be categorized
intonatural and anthropogenic hazards.
Climate and weather-related hazards,
such as typhoons and droughts, as well
as geophysical hazards, like
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and
tsunamis, are natural hazards.

Anthropogenic, or man-made, hazards

include deforestation, mining and
climate change.

The hazard maps, particularly

climate/weather-related and
geophysical, were intersected with the
base map from the National Mapping
and Resource Information Authority
(NAMRIA). The base map shows the
delineation of the political boundary of
each province in the country.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
software was used to overlay and
multiply the hazard scores with the
population density scores and the
Human Development Index (HDI).

Philippine Provincial Map

Climate and Weather-Related Hazards

A natural hazard is defined as a natural process or event that is potentially damaging
in that it may result in loss of life or injury, loss of property, socio-economic
destruction or environmental degradation. Climate- and weather-related hazards, in
particular, refer to the direct and indirect effects of observed changes and/or projected
deviations from present-day conditions of natural climate events (such as increases
and decreases in precipitation and temperature); and impacts of changes in the
frequencies and occurrences of extreme weather/climate events (such as tropical
cyclones, droughts, and El Niño and La Niña events).

The change in annual temperature conditions during the years 2066-2095 from the
baseline period (1961-1990) was used in the hazard assessment.

Projections of changes in rainfall conditions during the dry season (December to

February) and the rainy season (June to August) for the 21st century (2066-2096)
were compared with the baselines data (1961-1990).

In this study, the term typhoon is used to refer to all kinds of tropical cyclones, of
which there are four kinds. These are tropical depressions (<17 m/s), tropical storm
( 18-33 m/s), typhoons (34-64 m/s) and super-typhoons (>65 m/s). In general,
typhoons are considered extreme weather events. Typhoons from 1945 to 2003 were
included in the study.
The El Niño periods of 1982-83, 1986-87, 1992-93, and 1997-98 were considered. The
Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) was used to determine inclusive months for each El
Niño period. The El Niño events were compared to the monthly precipitation means of
the period 1971-2000.

Historical Temperature Historical Rainfall Increase Typhoon Incidence Decrease in Rainfall due to
Increase El Niño

Projected Temperature Projected Rainfall Change Projected Rainfall Change

Increase (Dry Season) (Rainy Season)

^top

Geophysical Hazards
Geophysical events are destructive phenomena. However, these are part of the normal
functioning of our dynamic planet. These so called hazards are due to naturally
occurring processes in the earth's interior.

Four hazards are considered under this category: Earthquakes, earthquake-induced

landslides, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. Sources of data for these hazards include
the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) and the Earthquake
and Natural Resource Atlas of the Philippines of 1998.

A natural process that is hazardous is the movement of lithospheric plates (the solid
crust and a few kilometers of the upper mantle), which causes the tectonic
earthquakes. US Geological Survey defines the term earthquake as "both sudden slip
on a fault, and the resulting ground shaking and radiated seismic energy caused by
the slip, or by volcanic or magmatic activity, or other sudden stress changes in the
earth (i.e. event by man made explosions)".

Furthermore, the resulting ground motion due to an earthquake produces another

natural hazard such as landslides and tsunamis. Landslide is the downslope movement
of soil and/or rock.

Tsunami is a sea wave of local or distant origin that results from large-scale seafloor
displacements associated with large earthquakes, major submarine slides, or exploding
volcanic islands.

One other example of a hazard is the ascent of molten material called magma beneath
the earth's surface, which results to eruptions of a volcano. A volcano is a vent at the
Earth's surface through which magma (molten rock) and associated gases erupt, and
also the cone built by effusive and explosive eruptions.

Reviewing the natural disaster record for the Philippines, volcano and earthquake
disasters are frequent in the top ten. (EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster
Database,www.em-dat.net - Université catholique de Louvain - Brussels -- Belgium)

As with the climate- and weather-related hazards and to generate four risk maps, the
resulting normalized hazard maps are multiplied with maps of normalized gridded
population density by city and municipality in 2000 as well as the normalized inverse
of the HDI by province in 2000.

Earthquake-Prone Areas Earthquake-Induced Shallow Distribution of Volcanoes Tsunami-Prone Ar

Landslides