Physical case studies

• Iceland eyjafjallajökull volcano

  • erupted march 2010
  • ash plumes went as far as Northern Italy
  • caused over 100,000 flights to be cancelled
  • was a high profile event due to the impact it had on air movement
  • imports/exports of fruit, flowers and vegetables affected
  • Europe, Kenya, Zambia and Ghana were also affected
  • Africa lost an estimated of $65 million due to the cancel of air travel
• Tohoku tsunami

  • Magnitude 9.0 earthquake on 11th March 2011
  • 16,000 people died 4,000 went missing
  • 65% of the dead were over 60
  • Destruction of Fukushima Daiichi made the event so high profile
  • Contaminated water leaked into the pacific ocean and contaminated fishing grounds
  • Japan's high increase of demand caused an affect on the world wide availability and affordability on liquified natural gas
  • Germany and Italy had to close power plants due to loss of public acceptability
  • Economic loss of $ 300 million
• Haiti earthquake

  • magnitude 7 on 12th January 2010
  • happened near the capital, Port au Prince
  • high levels of government corruption so buildings were poorly built, little infrastructure, lack of disaster preparation/ awareness of officials and population - vulnerable
  • the 1 airport and port were damaged - aid delivery
  • 1/4 of government killed - organising recovery
  • $ 13 billion aid donated but Haitian government has no control of it
  • in 2015, 80,000 Haitians were still living in temporary accommodation
• Sichuan earthquake

  • magnitude 7.9 on 12th of May 2008
  • Chinese officials took bribes and buildings were made poorly and thousands of schools collapsed - 900 children died in one school
  • earthquake happened in rural, mountainous area
  • in hours, 130,000 soldiers sent to affected areas
  • in two weeks, roads and temporary homes were built
  • two years after, 95% of pledged reconstruction was finished including houses, farms and transport links
• East great Japan earthquake

  • magnitude 9 on 11th of March 2011
  • strict building regulations and built with disaster in mind
  • low level of corruption
  • well developed disaster plan - ten metre high tsunami walls, emergency kits in homes, warning system
  • education and drills in schools and businesses eg September 1st is disaster prevention day in Japan
  • in 24 hours, 110,000 troops deployed, all TVs and radios were about earthquake management/ what to do, accepted help from 20 countries