Friday, November 18, 2016

Coastal Hazards in the Philippines


Since the Philippines is made up of thousands of islands, there is a lot of coastline to deal with. Although the wind and waves are the major factors for coastal erosion, human development and coral reef destruction have also played a significant role. Manila, the capital city, is a coastal city of 2 million people with whole communities (as well as major transportation systems-freeways and highways) at risk of falling into the sea. Coastal erosion, flooding, storm surges, monsoons, typhoons, and tsunamis are all coastal hazards faced by this island nation. 
(MGB Logo)  Mgb6 | Mines And Geosciences Bureau – Region VI


 The Mining and Geosciences Bureau of the Philippines is responsible for monitoring and reporting on coastal hazards, as well as maintaining coastal hazard maps, establishing danger areas, and determining the causes of erosion events.

In Zambales in 2013, they saw a 80-100 meter section of beach collapse near a resort, decreasing the coastline by about 10 meters in that area. They originally thought it might have been due to a sinkhole, but instead determined it was due to a combination of coastal erosion and an underground river. A danger area was established until they could determine if future instability could cause another collapse.

When looking at the Coastal Hazards Maps available through MGB, much of the data is incomplete. So I'm not sure how useful these maps are. Also the priority seems to be on flooding direction and flooding hazards, rather than erosion issues. Considering the severity of flooding that happens annually near coastal and lakeside areas, it is not surprising that flooding has been the major funding priority.

References: http://www.mgb.gov.ph/, http://www.philstar.com/nation/2013/07/02/960479/mgb-coastal-erosion-caused-zambales-beach-collapse, http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/434379/beach-erosion-in-zambales-caused-by-underground-river-geologists-say, http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/314186/news/regions/portion-of-zambales-beach-collapses, http://gdis.denr.gov.ph/mgbpublic/#identify, https://ideas.repec.org/p/eep/pbrief/pb2009082.html
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 20, 2016 at 9:52 AM

    Hi there, great post about the Philippines which seems to experience more than its fair share of hazards. The loss of beach in Zambales really shows the potential effects of coastal erosion, 80-100 meters is quite a bit of area to lose. I agree, it's not surprising they have to choose to focus on other hazards. It seems to be an issue that many countries face: funding. I know my country, Iceland, suffers a lot of budgetary issues when trying to mitigate hazards, because it is a small country on a large island. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. UnknownNovember 20, 2016 at 2:37 PM

    Hi Nico,
    Crazy how that beach was eroded in that way. I feel like we hear about these kinds of things but not what is being done to assist or prevent them. I also found the maps to be slightly irrelevant. Nice blog I will be sure to check back again.
    Tyler

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  3. karen A ReinhardDecember 10, 2016 at 4:20 PM

    Nice learning all about Philippines this week. The blog is organized well and I enjoyed reading over it. I found out that irregardless of where you built your estate, somehow, someway, one will feel the impact of big typhoon, which is a bit scary.

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