A disaster hotspot is a location with risk from two or more hazard groups: tectonic hazards (geophysical) and hydro-meteorological hazards. This means they are likely to be where plate boundaries intersect with major storm belts and they are also in areas of high human concentration in low or medium developed countries because this effects whether or not the country will be prepared thoroughly enough and whether it can recover quickly.
The Philippines lies on the boundary between the Philippine and Eurasian tectonic plates, the Eurasian Plate is forced beneath the Philippine. The plates move in a series of ‘jerks’ producing an earthquake each time they do so, this kind of plate boundary is called a destructive plate boundary. The harshest volcanic eruptions occur along destructive plate boundaries. As the subducted Eurasian plate melts the earth’s mantle, the molten rock forms a magma chamber, some of this magma then becomes explosive when combined with gases within the chamber. The magma then solidifying just below the earth’s surface producing a solid cap over the volcanoes outlet or vent. Pressure grows beneath, so when a volcanic blast does happen, it does so with incredible force.
Mount Pinatubo’s eruption in 1991 was the biggest the word has seen in 50 years. The volcano showed signs of eruption in April 1991, with steam explosions and minor earthquakes. There were two eruptions and the second, on the 15th June, was a cataclysmic; a dome on the side of the volcano collapsed creating a pyroclastic blast and causing huge lahars. Despite all the precautions that were taken, 377 people died, including 77 in the lahars that occurred. Some evacuees died in camps, where they were exposed to disease. 80 000 hectares of farmland were buried beneath ash, disrupting the livelihoods of 500 00 farmers and their families. Economic losses were US$710 million, mainly on agriculture and building.
Some hazard risks in The Philippines are complex because they have multiple effects; In October 2009 the country was hit by three Typhoons all in the space of one month. More than 100 000 people were moved out of their homes, many of those had just moved back after escaping earlier typhoons, which dropped a month’s rain on the island in one day. Around 1100 killed in landslides, floods and related bacterial infections after the earlier typhoons. Another example is one Earthquake in 2006 which generated 3 tsunamis, also triggered landslides and created floods which washed away houses.
