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About Philippines
Geography
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The 11 largest islands are: Luzon (102,649 sqkm, 39,633 sqmi), Mindanao (91,028 sqkm, 35,146 sqmi), Samar (17,428 sqkm, 6,729 sqmi), Palawan (14,896 sqkm, 5,752 sqmi), Negros (13,328 sqkm, 5,146 sqmi), Panay (13,032 sqkm, 5,032 sqmi), Mindoro (10,245 sqkm, 3,955 sqmi), Leyte (8,003 sqkm, 3,090 sqmi), Cebu (5,088 sqkm, 1,965 sqmi), Bohol (4,117 sqkm, 1,590 sqmi), Masbate (4,048 sqkm, 1,563 sqmi).
The Philippines like many Pacific islands are the peaks of mountains whose base is on the ocean floor and is part of an island string extending from Siberia to Australia. The crust of the earth is made up of a number of movable plates and mountains are formed when one plate pushes under another.
The more than 7,000 islands are part of the Pacific rim of fire at the interface where the Pacific plate slides under the Asian plate. The friction of their movements against one another gives rise to volcanos as well as causing earthquakes and produces ocean trenches in waters off the east coast which are 10,497m (about 6 mi) deep at the deepest point.
Minor earthquakes are common in the Philippines. However, there is also a long history of major earthquakes which happen from time to time. that have cost the lives of thousands of people. The worst earthquakes of the last three decades occurred on August 2, 1968, August 17, 1976, and July 16, 1990. In August 1968, more than 200 people died in an earthquake that was particularly strong in central Luzon and Manila. The quake of August 1976 cost more than 2000 lives in the Southern Philippines. But most casualties were not victims of the earthquake itself but of a tidal wave (tsunami) which followed, sweeping coastal areas all around Mindanao to a height of more than 5m (about 15ft). The most recent earthquake, July 16, 1990 centered about 10km southeast of Cabanatuan City, killed more than 1,600 people and demolished Agoo, La Union, Baguio City and Dagupan City. The heaviest casualties were in Baguio and Cabanatuan Cities.
An politically influential earthquake occurred August 17, 1983. Actually, it was not very strong, and there were no fatalities but one of the few buildings which suffered cracks was a famous old church in Paoay, near the home of the then President Marcos. Therefore superstitious people and Christian fundamentalists took the earthquake as a heavenly sign against Marcos.
Certainly, fear of earthquakes would not be sufficient reason to avoid the Philippines. However, even after minor earthquakes, travel in mountainous areas is difficult because road connections are often interrupted by landslides.
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