Token of appreciation

To my group in accomplish-ing the Geography project
This is Edrea writing this blog, I give special thanks to the following people which helped a lot in making this blog possible and presentable. These people are:

• Lim Song Wee
• Tay Siew Chen
• Xena Goh

Thanks to all these people who are expert blogger managed to find the information and bloging them with designs, specification, patterns and so on. Without them, this Geography project will not be finished by now. I give thanks for having such team/group members that made this piece of work possible and presentable.
Now, I give thanks for the following person for completing the group, team. I thank him for his companion during class and during disscusions. That person is:

• Bjorn Tin

And, if you don't mind, I give thanks to myself for starting a blog and e-mail and for the signing up processes and finishing the itinerary. You know who am I, I am:

• Edrea Tai

Special thanks for this person for accompanying when I started the blog and the e-mail and all that processes, that person is :

• Xena Goh

Special thanks for these people who can find time to create this blog and creating it with such passion and such creativity. Thank you(s) very much. They are:

• Lim Song Wee
• Tay Siw Chen
• Xena Goh

End of credits and thanks

Air tickets and Fares...$$$

The budget is $3000 per person.
Budget for a group of 5: $15000
Budget airline: Jetstar
Go and Return airline: $138 per person
Total amt used for airline:$690
Amt left: $810
Stay: Bayview Park Hotel
Cost: 1st night total $146 2nd night $73 (2 rooms)
Total:$216 Amt left:$591
Food: 4euros($7.20) per meal per person
Rough cost of the trip: $1051(e.g. excluding transportation fees)

Photos of Mount Pinatubo

Website: http://www.google.com.sg/images?um=1&hl=en&biw=1276&bih=558&rlz=1R2SUNC_enSG393&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=mount+pinatubo&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=mount+pi

Mount Pinatubo

Mount Pinatubo

Mount Pinatubo
The eruption column of Mount Pinatubo on June 12, 1991, three days before the climactic eruption.
Elevation	1,485 m (4,872 ft) (current)1,745 m (5,725 ft) (before 1991 eruption)
Pronunciation	[English: /ˌpiːnəˈtuːboʊ/]
Location
Location	Zambales, Luzon, Philippines Tarlac, Luzon, Philippines Pampanga, Luzon, Philippines
Range	Zambales Mountains
Coordinates	15°08′30″N 120°21′00″E / 15.14167°N 120.35°E / 15.14167; 120.35Coordinates: 15°08′30″N 120°21′00″E / 15.14167°N 120.35°E / 15.14167; 120.35
Geology
Type	Stratovolcano
Age of rock	Between 635,000 ± 80,000 and 1.1 ±; 0.09 million years[1]
Last eruption	1991[2] (deaths reached to 847)[3]

Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano located on the island of Luzon, at the intersection of the borders of the Philippine provinces of Zambales, Tarlac, and Pampanga. It is located in the Tri-Cabusilan Mountain range separating the west coast of Luzon from the central plains, and is 42 km (26 mi) west of the dormant and more prominent Mount Arayat,^[4] occasionally mistaken for Pinatubo. Ancestral Pinatubo was a stratovolcano made of andesite and dacite. Before 1991, the mountain was inconspicuous and heavily eroded. It was covered in dense forest which supported a population of several thousand indigenous people, the Aeta, who had fled to the mountains from the lowlands during the protracted Spanish conquest of the Philippines which began in 1565.
The volcano's Plinian/ Ultra-Plinian eruption (~VEI 6) in June 1991 produced the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century (after the 1912 eruption of Novarupta) and the largest eruption in living memory.^[5] The colossal 1991 eruption had a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 5 or 6, and came some 450–500 years after the volcano's last known eruptive activity (estimated as VEI 5, the level of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens), and some 1000 years after previous VEI 6 eruptive activity.^[2] A VEI of 6 corresponds to 10 to 100 cubic km of released material (Pinatubo released an estimated 6 to 16 cubic km of ash). Successful predictions of the onset of the climactic eruption led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from the surrounding areas, saving many lives, but surrounding areas were severely damaged by pyroclastic flows, ash deposits, and later by lahars caused by rainwater remobilizing earlier volcanic deposits: thousands of houses and other buildings were destroyed.^[5]
The effects of the eruption were felt worldwide. It ejected roughly 10 billion metric tonnes (10 cubic kilometres) of magma, and 20 million tons of SO₂, bringing vast quantities of minerals and metals to the surface environment. It injected large amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere – more than any eruption since that of Krakatoa in 1883. Over the following months, the aerosols formed a global layer of sulfuric acid haze. Global temperatures dropped by about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F), and ozone depletion temporarily increased substantially.

Mount Pinatubo Eruption

The Volcanic Mount Pinatubo Eruption of 1991 that Cooled the Planet

Mt. Pinatubo eruption plume, July 1991, from Clark Air Base control tower

J.N. Marso, courtesy of USGS/Cascades Volcano Observatory

Mar 2 2011

In June 1991, the second largest volcanic eruption of the twentieth century* took place on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, a mere 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of the capital city Manila. Up to 800 people were killed and 100,000 became homeless following the Mount Pinatubo eruption, which climaxed with nine hours of eruption on June 15, 1991. On June 15, millions of tons of sulfur dioxide were discharged into the atmosphere, resulting in a decrease in the temperature worldwide over the next few years. Mount Pinatubo is part of a chain of composite volcanoes along the Luzon arc on the west coast of the island (area map). The arc of volcanoes is due to the subduction of the Manila trench to the west. The volcano experienced major eruptions approximately 500, 3000, and 5500 years ago.
The events of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption began in July 1990, when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred 100 kilometers (62 miles) northeast of the Pinatubo region, determined to be a result of the reawakening of Mount Pinatubo.
In mid-March 1991, villagers around Mount Pinatubo began feeling earthquakes and vulcanologists began to study the mountain. (Approximately 30,000 people lived on the flanks of the volcano prior to the disaster.) On April 2, small explosions from vents dusted local villages with ash. The first evacuations of 5,000 people were ordered later that month.
Earthquakes and explosions continued. On June 5, a Level 3 alert was issued for two weeks due to the possibility of a major eruption. The extrusion of a lava dome on June 7 led to the issuance of a Level 5 alert on June 9, indicating an eruption in progress. An evacuation area 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) away from the volcano was established and 25,000 people were evacuated.
The following day (June 10), Clark Air Base, a U.S. military installation near the volcano, was evacuated. The 18,000 personnel and their families were transported to Subic Bay Naval Station and most were returned to the United States. On June 12, the danger radius was extended to 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the volcano resulting in the total evacuation of 58,000 people.
On June 15, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo began at 1:42 p.m. local time. The eruption lasted for nine hours and caused numerous large earthquakes due to the collapse of the summit of Mount Pinatubo and the creation of a caldera. The caldera reduced the peak from 1745 meters (5725 feet) to 1485 meters (4872 feet) high is 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) in diameter.
Unfortunately, at the time of the eruption Tropical Storm Yunya was passing 75 km (47 miles) to the northeast of Mount Pinatubo, causing a large amount of rainfall in the region. The ash that was ejected from the volcano mixed with the water vapor in the air to cause a rainfall of tephra that fell across almost the entire island of Luzon. The greatest thickness of ash deposited 33 centimeters (13 inches) approximately 10.5 km (6.5 mi) southwest of the volcano. There was 10 cm of ash covering an area of 2000 square kilometers (772 square miles). Most of the 200 to 800 people (accounts vary) who died during the eruption died due to the weight of the ash collapsing roofs and killing to occupants. Had Tropical Storm Yunya not been nearby, the death toll from the volcano would have been much lower.
In addition to the ash, Mount Pinatubo ejected between 15 and 30 million tons of sulfur dioxide gas. Sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere mixes with water and oxygen in the atmosphere to become sulfuric acid, which in turn triggers ozone depletion. Over 90% of the material released from the volcano was ejected during the nine hour eruption of June 15.
The eruption plume of Mount Pinatubo's various gases and ash reached high into the atmosphere within two hours of the eruption, attaining an altitude of 34 km (21 miles) high and over 400 km (250 miles) wide. This eruption was the largest disturbance of the stratosphere since the eruption of Krakatau in 1883 (but ten times larger than Mount St. Helens in 1980). The aerosol cloud spread around the earth in two weeks and covered the planet within a year. During 1992 and 1993, the Ozone hole over Antarctica reached an unprecedented size.
The cloud over the earth reduced global temperatures. In 1992 and 1993, the average temperature in the Northern Hemisphere was reduced 0.5 to 0.6°C and the entire planet was cooled 0.4 to 0.5°C. The maximum reduction in global temperature occurred in August 1992 with a reduction of 0.73°C. The eruption is believed to have influenced such events as 1993 floods along the Mississippi river and the drought in the Sahel region of Africa. The United States experienced its third coldest and third wettest summer in 77 years during 1992.
Overall, the cooling effects of the Mount Pinatubo eruption were greater than those of the El Niño that was taking place at the time or of the greenhouse gas warming of the planet. Remarkable sunrises and sunsets were visible around the globe in the years following the Mount Pinatubo eruption.
The human impacts of the disaster are staggering. In addition to the up to 800 people who lost their lives, there was almost one half of a billion dollars in property and economic damage. The economy of central Luzon was horribly disrupted. In 1991, the volcano destroyed 4,979 homes and damaged another 70,257. The following year 3,281 homes were destroyed and 3,137 were damaged. Damage following the Mount Pinatubo eruption was usually caused by lahars - rain-induced torrents of volcanic debris that killed people and animals and buried homes in the months after the eruption. Additionally, another Mount Pinatubo eruption in August 1992 killed 72 people.
The United States military never returned to Clark Air Base, turning over the damaged base to the Philippine government on November 26, 1991. Today, the region continues to rebuild and recover from the disaster.

Mount Pinatubo

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Mount Pinatubo , active volcano, 5,840 ft (1,780 m), central Luzon island, the Philippines, c.55 mi (90 km) NW of Manila. Dormant for 600 years, it began erupting on Apr. 2, 1991. Most residents had evacuated surrounding areas when Pinatubo erupted catastrophically (June 15, 1991), killing over 500 people and burying over 310 sq mi (800 sq km) under volcanic ash. As much as 2 cu mi (8 cu km) of ash was ejected in the eruption. The nearby U.S. Clark Air Force Base was devastated by the ash fall, which resulted in the base's closure. Landslides of rain-soaked volcanic ash caused further destruction in 1991 and subsequent years.

Resoureces:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pinatubo
http://geography.about.com/od/globalproblemsandissues/a/pinatubo.htm

Photos of Taal Volcano and Websites

Useful resources: http://tourism-philippines.com/taal-volcano/
http://www.sailing.org.ph/tlyc/volctrip.html
http://www.aenet.org/treks/taaltrek.htm

More information on Taal volcano

Laments of an Old Crater: This is one of the most photographed volcanoes in the world. This is part of Taal volcano’s group of craters. This crater is one of the most visible and most photographed crater of Taal Volcano. However, this crater is one of the oldest and the most inactive of the Taal Volcano island craters.
Shot taken at 25,000 ft above the province of Laguna, east of Taal Lake.

Taal Volcano is an active volcano located about 70-km south of Manila inside a lake, it was formed through one major eruption at the center of a lake, and since the lake itself is the crater of a prehistoric volcano, and within the lake, other eruptions have occurred producing more craters and micro-lakes. The vista from the rim is unrivaled.

Tagaytay, Taal Lake and Volcano Island: This is primarily a photo of the Taal Lake — which is a lake in the Island of Luzon, Philippines.The photo that justifies the title of a small island(that tiny speck on the crater lake), within a lake(the small crater lake), in an island(taal volcano island), in a lake(taal lake). The foreground is the aerial view of the cliff area of Tagaytay City, in the background is Taal Lake, the volcano island, and Mt. Maculot in the distance. This shot was taken approximately 5,000 feet over the town of Amadeo, Cavite.

Although the Taal Volcano has not erupted since 1977, it has erupted 33 times and these were notable enough to earn it a tag by the UN on the list of the world’s Decade Volcanoes. Many people still travel to the area to see the magnificent sites set to a backdrop of vegetation and wildlife in Batangas City and are willing to pay the cost and risk for a rent house to take in the views of the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape in its true glory.

One area that tourists enjoy visiting immensely as part of the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape is Crater Lake where many enjoy bathing. Unfortunately the sudden influx of tourists recently has led to a decline in the aquatic fish who call the area home and conservationists are beginning to take action. However, there will soon be a large tree planting along the beaches of Taal Lake to combat the problem along with Volcano Island. Additionally, an area will be deemed a protected area to encourage friendly eco-tourism to keep the area ripe and environmentally diverse for years to come.

Taal Volcano: A hazy view of the famous Taal Volcano, in the Philippines, it has been called the smallest active volcano in the world. It is located about 70-km south of Manila on an island inside a lake called Taal Lake. What makes Taal Volcano more unique is the fact that the volcano itself has a lake of its own inside its crater which is called the “Crater Lake.”

Inside the main caldera,on volcano island, there is yet another lake, called the “Crater Lake.” The highly sulfuric lake may have medicinal properties. People do swim in it, Some have even SCUBA dived in it.

Simmering and Deadly: Viewed from northern part of Taal Volcano’s crater rim. This is the simmering crater lake of one of the most active volcanos in the world. In the distance is Taal Lake, with the outline of Mt. Maculot( A mountain in the province of Batangas, Philippines).

Folk stories has it that the whole Taal Lake (part of it can be seen in the distance) surrounding the Taal Volcano island, is the crater of the original volcano itself(hinting that this was once a super volcano judging by the size of Taal Lake — if the story is true).

Inside the main caldera,on volcano island, there is yet another lake, called the “Crater Lake.” The highly sulfuric lake may have medicinal properties. People do swim in it, Some have even SCUBA dived in it. The crater lake can be accessed by going around the crater to the west side of the island.

Tourists and visitors normally go to the town of Talisay, a few kilometers down the slopes of Tagaytay city(about 2 hours from Manila). Boats will then take visitors to the volcano island(where this crater lake is) for approximately 45 minutes. For those who are rich, disabled, ederly or plain lazy — they normally take horses up the slopes to the viewing deck, near where this shot was taken. By horses, the viewing deck is only about 20 minutes from the shore(where the boats dock). By foot, the same distance can be covered in an hour or so. During the summer, the path can be very dusty. A face/dust mask will be very handy for the trip.

Initiatives such as these are what have earned the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape that includes over twenty areas its protected status and a nomination as an area of outstanding universal area. Due to the many unique formations left behind by the active Taal Volcano there are many geological wonders that cannot be found so densely relative to each other at any other area in the world. These geological hotspots are one of the main reasons for the wide biodiversity of plant and aquatic fish life that inhabit the general area.

Adding to the area’s charm is the fact that no other volcano’s eruption can be matched with the Taal Volcano or the resulting landscaped area due to the fact that it originated from the center of Lake Crater in prehistoric times. Thus, this phenomenon cannot be viewed or experienced at any other location in the world which is partially the reason why tourists are so prevalent in the area at any time of the year.

National Geological Monument

Taal Volcano Protected Landscape was declared Philippines’s National Geological Monument (together with Chocolate Hills, and Hundred Islands National Park) and was also proposed for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2006.

The Mouth of Taal Volcano: This is the real Taal volcano… its different from what the post cards show. There was sulfur in the air here… and they say when you swim there, it will instantly bleach your clothes.
Photo by deckchua

Taal Volcano
Photo by pommypaul

Taal Volcano & Taal Lake