Environmental issues in the Philippines Environmental issues in the Philippines The Philippines' evident risk to natural disasters is due to its location. Being a country that lies in the Pacific Ring of Fire, it is prone to earthquake and volcanic eruptions. In addition, the country is surrounded by large bodies of water and faces the Pacific Ocean where 60% of the world's typhoons are made. One of the most devastating typhoons that hit the Philippines in 2013 was Typhoon Haiyan, or "Yolanda", that killed over 10,000 people and destroyed over a trillion pesos worth of properties and damage to various sectors. Other environmental problems that
Geography of the Philippines The boundaries of the Philippine archipelago are described in Article III of the Treaty of Paris (1898), as comprising an irregular polygon. A box enclosing that polygon would have corners at 20°N 116°E, 20°N 127°E, 4.75°N 127°E, 4.75°N 116°E. The center of this box would lie at 121.5 E, 12.375 N. That point lies roughly in the center of the Tablas Strait between the islands of Tablas and Mindoro. "Republic Act No. 9522", "An Act to Define the Baselines of the Territorial Sea of the Philippines", describes an irregular polygon which fits within a box with its center at 121°44'47.45"E