PHIVOLCS Tsunami Alert Levels

Many people, especially those who are leaving near fault lines, are afraid of earthquakes. Such fear is understandable because the effects of earthquake is very great. Toppled houses, hundreds of dead people and destruction of many lives are just few of the many negative effects of earthquake.

Many people living along the Marikina Fault Line (West Valley Fault) are considering leaving their place and choose an area that is more safe. It is thought that it is safe to live far away from the fault line.

People living away from any fault line but living near the coast should not be complacent, however. Fault lines might be far away from their homes but the fact is that they are threatened by tsunami.

Tsunami is the wave created by earthquakes occuring under the sea. The destruction caused by tsunami is so great that a tsunami in Sendai, Japan (2011) killed hundreds of people.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) is the lead government agecy when it comes to earthquakes and tsunami. PHIVOLCS created a map showing the areas in the Philippines that are threatened by tsunami. PHIVOLCS also had maps showing the location of fault lines.

Aside from these, PHIVOLCS also created Tsunami Alert Levels that can be used by coastal communities when deciding what to do when there is threat of tsunami.

Here are the PHIVOLCS Tsunami Alert Levels:

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Information on PHIVOLCS tsunami alert levels was obtained from PHIVOLCS website.

PHIVOLCS Map of Tsunami Prone Areas

In the previous post, I talked about PHIVOLCS list of fault lines and maps. Now, related to earthquake is the tsunami. According to PHIVOLCS, tsunami is a series of waves generated by a shallow seated earthquake on the seabed.

Just like what happened to Japan this month, tsunami occurred right after the strong earthquake. According to some reports, the tsunami generated by the earthquake is as fast as a jet plane so that few managed to escape the tsunami.

To help the people in coastal areas, PHIVOLCS collected data and created a map to show tsunami prone-areas in the Philippines. Shown below is a screen grab of Tsunami Prone Area Map from PHIVOLCS.

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To view the copy of PHIVOLCS' map, I suggest that you visit this PHIVOLCS web page.

PHIVOLCS made this map so as to help the Filipino people know if they are threatened by tsunami and so that we can prepare accordingly.

For more information about earthquakes, visit my posts: PHIVOLCS List of Fault Lines and Maps and PHIVOLCS Tips on what to do before, during and after the occurrence of earthquake, and PHIVOLCS Map of areas affected by Marikina Fault.

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