Eyjafallajokull Volcano, April 2010 Flashcards
When did the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupt?
First erupted on march 20th but erupted throughout April 2010
What were some of the primary effects of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano?
+ The eruption took place under a glacier causing widespread flooding across the island washing the very limited but crucial fertile soils away, the farmland also gathered as much as 2 meters of ash which suffocated any remaining crops crippling agriculture on the island and poisoning and suffocating animals causing food shortages in the nation
+ Parts of the islands famous ring road was washed away disrupting services
+ Residents were asked to stay indoors for as long as 7 days to prevent ash induced breathing problems
+ The infamous ash cloud reached 11,000km in to the atmosphere, consisting of tiny ash particle that could down aeroplanes, the ash was transported across Europe by strong northerly winds at the time grounding around 130,000 flights in the very busy Easter holidays
+ 0 people died
What were some of the secondary impacts of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano?
+ Between the 14th and 21st of April 130,000 flights were grounded on the crucially busy Easter holidays having effects on the economies of far away places such as Kenya and Mauritius as tourism was affected, African, but primarily Kenyan farmers witnessed a drop in demand from supermarkets of around 20-30% as it couldn’t be transported to Northern Europe, food went to waste in Africa, farmers lost revenue and produce prices increased by as much as 30% in the U.K and 50% across Scandinavia because demand for the little produce that did make it into the countries via truck from deliveries landing in Spain was high
+ Many workers in the U.K couldn’t get back to work most notably teachers as they were stuck overseas, causing a teacher crisis across the U.K
+ Icelands economy took a downturn as fishing, agriculture and tourism took a hit, made worse by the nations infamous banking crisis at the time
