Case study Indian Ocean Tsunami Dec 2004 ( see tsunami lessons 10 a and 10b)

CASE STUDY JAPAN EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI 2011 (see Tsunami lesson 10b…

The Eyjafjallajokull Volcano, Iceland 2010 ( Predominant volcanic hazards- ash and jokulhaup) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmEJRmBcM0o

Volcano Eyjafjallajökull Answer:C. Plate tectonics = Volcano Eyjafjallajökull on Iceland Volcano Eyjafjallajökull (AY-yah-fyah-lah-YOH-kuul) has only erupted three times since the Vikings settled the island in the 9th century (1200 years ago..) The last eruption was in 1820 but after being dormant for nearly 200 years, the volcano began erupting in late March.

Boiling Point Tourists rushed to Iceland to see the fiery display! The intense heat began melting the 200m thick glacier on top of it and the massive flooding caused a mass evacuation of people and wreaked havoc for the farmers who raise sheep, cattle and horses on the pastures around the volcano.

Worse than Lava? In the second week of April the volcano began spewing huge amounts of ash 8-11km up into the atmosphere. Strong winds then blew this ash cloud right across Northern Europe, shutting down the airports. Millions of people around the world have been stranded in airports, unable to get home.

Why did it erupt? The island of Iceland sits on top of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge fault line between two great shifting tectonic plates. Eruptions are often triggered when the Earth’s tectonic plates move and magma from deep underground pushes up to the surface. Iceland has a lot of volcanoes!

The effects 1. Inconvenience The Prince of Wales, Barack Obama and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, had to abandon plans to travel to the funeral of Lech Kaczynski, the Polish President, who had died in an air crash the previous week. A group of schoolgirl fencers from Durham were stranded in Beijing, China and were told that they might not be able to fly back until May 4 – two weeks after the start of term. (Mysteriously, they seemed very happy!) 5 million travellers, including 1m Britons were stranded at UK or overseas airports, unable to fly.

The effects 2. The poorest in Africa suffer In Kenya, millions of pounds of vegetables and flowers ready to be flown in the baggage holds of passenger flights to British supermarkets were destroyed because there was no point in the planes leaving if they couldn’t land. £1.3 million of freshly cut flowers are grown every day in Kenya and trucked to Nairobi for flights to the UK.