A look at the map of the Philippines shows an archipelagic country. Some 7,100 islands are spread over the area of two million square kilometers of sea. The country is built on a vast array of broken tectonic plates, belonging to the Pacific Rim of Fire. This belt, that runs from the north of Japan, through the Philippines, to New Zealand, is an area with continuous moving tectonic plates, floating on the earth’s liquid magma. These movements reveal themselves outwardly in numerous earthquakes and other volcanic activity.

The country has 20 active volcanos and many sleeping ones. Famous are Mount Mayon and Mount Pinatubo, both on main island Luzon. Taal Volcano, close to the capital Manila, is known as the world’s smallest volcano, but one of the most violent.

Cebu, fortunately, has none of that. Cebu island lies in a non-active seismic area, which means that it is free from major earthquakes. Small ones might happen. The last, with a magnitude of 4 on the Richter scale, occurred in 1991. No one was hurt, there was no damage.

Cebu island was formed in the so-called Carbon period, some 350 million years ago. During this period, large shallow marshes were formed with abundant vegetation. The rotting plants and trees in these marshes turned into peat and later into coal. Cebu island still has large coal reserves, the basis for Cebu’s coal mining industry of today.

Deposits of shell and eroded sand formed the basis for the limestone, which makes up most of Cebu. This limestone was, over the ages, pushed upwards, making it possible to find today sea fossils high in Cebu’s mountains. This pushing up continues today. It is caused by the fact that the Philippine Plate, on which most of the country lies, is slowly diving under the Eurasian Plate of the mainland of Asia.

Today’s Cebu island is characterized by steep mountains without any substantial forest cover. Highest peaks reach over 1,000 meters. The island is 300 km long and 35 km wide. High, steep mountains, short distances and lack of forest cover mean that rainwater runs fast to the sea, causing substantial erosion.

The island has vast copper, gold and coal reserves which are mined mainly in the central part.