The Causes of the Montserrat Eruption – 25th July 1997
Montserrat lies on a destructive plate boundary. As the two plates merge the oceanic plate is forced
down or sub ducted under the continental plate. As it is forced down pressure increases which
triggers earthquakes and at the same time heat produced by friction melts the descending crust
to form molten magma. The hot magma tries to rise to the surface and when it succeeds will form a
volcano such as the one in Montserrat.
The Primary Effects of the Eruption
2/3 of the island was covered in ash
50% of the population were evacuated to the north of the island to live in makeshift
shelters
23 people died in 1997
Plymouth - the capital became a ghost town
Floods as valleys were blocked with ash
The airport and port were closed
Farmland was destroyed
Forest fires caused by pyroclastic flows
Many schools and hospitals were destroyed
The Secondary effects of the Eruption
As most of the southern area was
destroyed any remaining inhabitants
have had to endure harsh living
conditions in the North.
Transport remains a problem for
people travelling to the island as the
port and airport remain closed.
The tourist industry is still suffering
with few visitors except for cruise ships
looking at the volcano
Over half the population left the island
and have not returned
Responses to the Eruption
£41 million was given in aid by the
British Government.
Money was given to individuals to help
them move to other countries.
Riots occurred as locals complained
that the British were not doing enough
to help the islanders
The MVO (Montserrat Volcano
Observatory) was set up to study the
volcano and provide warnings for the
future
A Risk assessment was done to help
islanders understand which areas are
at risk and reduce problems for the
future.
HAZARDS
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Lava flows - 1000 degrees Calcius lava spewed 150m into the air. More than 100
million cubic meters of lava erupted, more than 1000 million cubic meters of tephra
erupted.
Ash plume reached 11,000m in the air - reached the stratosphere. Distributed by high
velocity jet streams between troposphere and stratosphere.
Fine grained ash hazard for airplanes (affects systems as turns to glassy substance
due to heat of jet engines).
Glacier - causes flooding. In 2010 2000-3000 metres cubed per second of flood
water.
Britain had fine anticyclone weather, normal winds would have dispersed the ash
cloud better.
SOCIAL IMPACTS
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10 million airline passengers affected and stranded abroad. 107,000 flights were
cancelled over the 8 day travel ban this accounts for 48% of total air traffic.
Residents in the volcano shadow were covered in ash and may have evacuated.
Sports games across the globe had to be cancelled of postponed.
500 farmers and their families had to be evacuated from the area around the volcano
and many of the roads surrounding the volcano were shut down.
Ash contaminated local water supplies and farmers near the volcano were warned
not to let their livestock drink from the contaminated streams and water sources. High
concentrations of fluoride from the ash mixed with river water can have deadly effects
particularly in sheep.
Iceland March 2010
ECONOMIC IMPACTS
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Airlines lots up to $200 million each day due to postponed flights.
Kenya lost up to $3.5 million as a result of lost exports. 20% of the Kenyan economy
is based on the export of green vegetables (beans, sugar-snap peas and okra) and
cut flowers to Europe, these are perishable goods and they are transported by plane
to keep them fresh but due to the flight ban the products were unsold and destroyed.
One million flower stalks were unfold in the first two days. 50,000 farmers were
temporarily unemployed.
Eurostar and other travel companies flourished - 50,000 extra passengers a day
added £7 million to the rail line.
Stock market shares in air travel and tourism fell by 4%.
Hire car companies increased their prices during the 8 day fly ban.
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Huge impact on public institutions (schools) and businesses particularly those that
rely on air freight to those with workers stranded overseas.
Europe in total lost $2.6 billion GDP.
ENVIRONMENTAL/ PHYSICAL IMPACT
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Eruption added 0.15m tons of carbon dioxide each day to the atmosphere but the
lack of air travel prevented between 1.3-2.8m tones from reaching the atmosphere.
Phytoplankton in the Atlantic Ocean bloomed as they fed on the iron from the ash
falling and therefore this boosted the marine ecosystem.
Flooding was caused by the silting up of rivers and the melting of the 150m thick ice
cap. 700 people had to be evacuated. Flooding destroyed parts of the main route 1
road.
RESPONSES
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Responses were entirely domestic. Countries affected by the hazard responded by
themselves or collectively and had the capacity to do so.
Legal, technical and infrastructure can cope with hazards such as this eruption even
if there were economic impacts.
Their actions also limited the impact in terms of casualties and tests have taken place
since to see if planes can fly through ash clouds and in what type of ash. It has also
been discovered that all flights do not need to be grounded as planes are just
required to fly at a lower height.
Kashmir
When: 8.40am 8th October 2005
Where: Kashmir
Magnitude: 7.6
Focus: 26km
Epicentre: Muzaffarabad
Lasted: 60 seconds
Why: Collision plate boundary - Indo Australian Plate and Eurasian Plate. The two plates
have the same densities and are both continental crust, therefore when they meet there
is NO subduction, the two plates buckle upwards to form fold mountains, in this case the
Himalayas. Pressure builds up in the crust that is released suddenly, this is the
earthquake.
Primary Effects
Buildings collapsed, windows shattered, roads cracked and bridges collapsed.
79 000 people were killed
100 000 injured
3.3 million were made homeless
Massive landslides occurred burying villages and cutting remote areas off completely.
The time of day meant that lots of children had just started their school day, many
schools collapsed in the quake killing thousands of school children.
Secondary Effects
Fires broke out as gas pipes cracked.
Diseases such as cholera and typhoid spread quickly from dirty water and dead bodies.
The cold meant people caught pneumonia.
People died as a result of the cold because they only had tents to live in.
Long Term Effects
Rural areas were less badly affected as the crops and animals mainly survived.
Urban areas needed to be rebuilt, this took time and cost a lot of money, many people
lost their jobs.
Electricity lines were bought down and this hampered the rebuilding of the cities.
3.3 million people were initially made homeless, 1 million people were still homeless 1
year on from the disaster.
Cost of the damage was estimated to be $5 billion.
Short Term Responses
Local people rescued those trapped.
Indian Red Cross distributed 21,500 blankets, 300 kitchen sets and medical supplies.
The military deployed helicopters.
Peoples' injuries were prioritised using a numbering system, the lower the number, the
sooner you got rescued.
The border between Pakistan and India was opened to allow emergency supplies in.
Rapid UK worked alongside Muslim Aid in helping to rescue the trapped.
Military hospitals were opened for civilian casualties.
Loma Prieta – October 17, 1989
Time:5:04pm
Magnitude:7.1
Deaths:68
Injuries:3,757
Homes Damaged:23,408
Homes Destroyed:1,018
Businesses Damaged:3,530
Businesses Destroyed:366
Estimated Dollar Loss:$6 billion to $7 billion
Aftershocks:More than 7,000 between magnitudes 1.0and 5.4 by Oct. 1, 1990
At 5:04 P.M., Tuesday, October 17, 1989, as over 62,000 fans filled Candlestick Park for the third
game of the World Series and the San Francisco Bay Area commute moved into its heaviest flow, a
Richter magnitude7.1 earthquake struck. It was an emergency planner's worst-case scenario. The 20second earthquake was centred about 60 miles south of San Francisco, and was felt as far away as
San Diego and western Nevada. Scientists had predicted an earthquake would hit on this section of
the San Andreas Fault and considered it one of the Bay Area's most dangerous stretches of the fault.
Among the most catastrophic seismic-induced events were the collapse of the elevated Cypress
Street section of Interstate 880 in Oakland, the collapse of a section of the roadbed of the San
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, multiple building collapses in San Francisco's Marina district, and the
collapse of several structures in the town of Santa Cruz at the Pacific Garden Mall and in other areas
around the epicentre region. It is possible that surface waves, which are a slower rolling motion and
the last type of wave to arrive, stimulated heavy motion in soft, water-saturated soils around the
Bay's margin, resulting in much of the dramatic damage in parts of San Francisco and Oakland. This
was somewhat like the amplified earthquake waves that destroyed sections of Mexico City hundreds
of miles from that earthquake's epicentre. Damage and business interruption estimates reached as
high as $10 billion, with direct damage estimated at$6.8 billion. $2 billion of that amount is for San
Francisco alone and Santa Cruz officials estimated that damage to that county will top $1 billion.
Areas outside of Santa Cruz, including the towns of Watsonville, Hollister, and Los Gatos, also
suffered heavy damage. President Bush declared a disaster area for the seven hardest-hit counties,
from Monterey and San Benito in the south to Marin and Solano in the north. Over 62 people died, a
remarkably low number given the time and size of the earthquake. Most casualties were caused by
the collapse of the Cypress Street section. At least 3,700 people were reported injured and over
12,000 were displaced. Over 18,000 homes were damaged and 963 were destroyed. Over 2,500
other buildings were damaged and 147 were destroyed.