Hazards - Mount Etna Sicily - Volcano CS Flashcards
What hazards occurred?
- Ash emissions
- Eject lots of lava
- Pyroclastics fell as ash (40 - 50 million cm3)
- tephra
Why live there?
Reigning produces red and white wine - rich fertile soils - 100,000 yrs of weathering
Why do people live there?
- tourism -> employment
- auxiliary industries -> eg. Taxis, laundries
- hotel, cable cars
What is the GDP per capita?
$42,000
What is the HDI?
29th out of 189
What type of volcano is mount etna?
- most active volcano in the world
- strata volcano on east coast
How much of Sicily’s pop live in Etnas slopes?
> 25%
What’s peoples perception of the place?
- fatalistic belief
- accept the threat
- volcano part of the community -> cultural links
What boundary does Etna live on?
- a convergent plate boundary
( African and Eurasia plate)
What type of eruption is it?
- ejects lots of lava
- Strombolian eruption
What are the short term impacts on people?
- health -> difficulty breathing
- displaced people -> due to damaged buildings -> ground deformation
- tephra falls in southern flanks > paralysed public life in Catania
What are the long term impacts on people?
- Brought about a heightened awareness of hazards -> changed perception -> fear
- 2013 analysis of lava flow showed them to be more dangerous -> pop at risk
- Etna slides towards the sea -> tsunamis -> take 500,000 years before it collapses
What are the impacts on the country?
- classify into environmental, economic, political
EN: major force of harmful compounds
- aerosols, gasses (passive degassing)
- southern flank vents destroyed forest (lava)
P: govt (1991) reduced taxes to get through crisis and handed out more than £5.6m in aid
E: skiing areas in Piano Provenzana > destroyed nearly by lava
- ash on runways airport closed for 2 weeks > $8million repair
what was Etnas VEI?
1-2
What mitigation was done against the event?
- lava been diverted with bombs disrupts the flow > US suggest more targeted larger bombs
- civil protection sent in helicopters to set out fire with water
- barrier built 400m long > saved $5-25 million
-2002 emergency worker dug channels to divert north flow from town
What was the mitigation against vulnerability?
- have the most sophisticated monitoring systems on earth > ground vibrations, gas emissions, surveillance cameras, underwater sensors, thermal cameras
- in 1991, Italian govt promised tax cuts for villagers to help them in crisis > provided $5.6mil in aid
What were the mitigation against losses?
- council workers sweeping thick layers of ash from streets
- ship equipped with medical equipment (clinic) > south of volcano ready in emergency
