HISTORICAL BACKGROUND | PHYSICAL CONDITIONS | SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT | ECONOMIC CENTER -- TOURISM | DEVELOPMENT TREND | AWARDS

II. PHYSICAL CONDITIONS

Geographic Location
Laoag City is bounded by five municipalities; Sarrat in the east; San Nicolas in the southeast; Paoay in the southwest; Vintar in the northeast; Bacarra in the northwest and finally the China Sea in the west.
Laoag City can be reached by both land and air transportation from any origin.

Land Features
Land Area - Laoag City has a total land area of 12,747.35 hectares or 127.4735 square kilometers. It consists of 80 barangays, 30 of which are urban and 50 are rural barangays.
An area of 930.847 hectare is occupied by the urban core or the poblacion, while 11,816.501 hectares are occupied by the rural barangays.

Topography - The central part of the city is predominantly lowland, with a sloping terrain of five to ten feet above sea level going west. From the northeastern part of the city going west to Dibua are virgin hills diminishing in height from 52 feet to 10 feet above sea level.
In Northeastern part of the city are hills and mountains. The highest among the peaks is 183 feet above sea level. These hills are forested area.

Geology - Laoag City has a rugged terrain and an irregular outline. The southwestern portion which is part of the physiographic unit known as the Ilocos Coast Strip, consists largely of elevated coastal tract, mainly alluvium overlaying older sediments with some portions of raised coral, andesitic extrusive. The hills along the rolling area above the coastal plans are tertiary and sedimentary rocks such as limestone, sandstone, conglomerates and limy shale.
The situation of faulting in Laoag City is influenced in the Luzon Central Cordillera which could be just a case of scissoring along the fault zone or it could mark a rhombohedral split between echelon segments of Dingalen?Lingayen segment connected similarly with Bangui Fault.
The Bangui Fault slices in a NW?SE direction on the northern part of the Luzon Central cordillera from Bangui Bay and extends southward to mark the boundary between the Cordillera and the Cagayan basin.
Historical data on the occurrence of earthquake in Laoag City pointed out two damaging earthquakes. The most devastating was on 17 August 1983 at 8:13 in the evening wherein a number of reinforced concrete buildings either totally collapsed or sustained major structural damage, beyond rehabilitation.

Land Use Classification - The general framework for land utilization, having spatial and locational dimensions, is an essential element in planning future developments of an area, The various factors used in drawing up an optimal land use for Laoag City include geology and soils, climate, slope, erodability, existing projects, infrastructure and settlement, national policies on wildlife conservation and other institutional constraints.

Climatic Condition
Type (coronas) climate prevails in Laoag City. This is characterized by two pronounced seasons, i.e. dry from November to April and wet the rest of the year. The average annual temperature of the city is 27.25 degrees centigrade with a relative humidity of 75.55%. The area shielded from the Northern winds and to some extent from the Pacific tradewinds by the Cordillera and Sierra Madre Mountains, respectively. However, tropical cyclones and storms visit the region because of its vulnerability to the Southwest monsoon (PAG?ASA Report).