Geography Tectonic Hazards Case Studies

Geography Tectonic Hazards Case Studies

1. Eyjafjallajokull (E15), Iceland

   • 20th March 2010
   • Erupted for 48 hours
   • Quick wind changes causing ash cloud to change direction
   • 3 people went missing going to the volcano
   • 2 died
   • Constructive plate boundary
   • 600 tons of ash/sec
   • Rescue plans
     • People evacuated
     • School as rescue centers
   • No fly zones in Europe
   • Last eruption was 1821, lasting 18 months
   • 16,000 flights cancelled on one day
   • Ash mixed with water coating houses
   • Livestock died from eating ash
   • Route 1 highway closed
   • Glacial meltwater
     • 120 cubed m/s added to river
     • Flooding
   • Respiritry problems
   • 2nd eruption on April 14th
     • £10m lost in one day from tourism
     • Teachers + students couldn't get back to school
       • People trying to use trains/boats
     • Fresh produce running out
       • Loss of income in Kenya
     • Laidar monitoring
       • Tells you how high ash is
     • Helium balloons sent into sky

2. Haiti

   • Magnitude 7 earthquake
   • 12th January 2010
     • 16:53 local time
   • Occured on the Enriquillo Fault
     • Northern edge of Carribean plate
     • Moved 10 metres in 2010
     • Slips eastwards 8cm/yr
     • Last major earthquake 1770
   • Two strong aftershocks
   • 222,500 dead
     • Thousands uncounted for
   • 2.5m people in Port au Prince
     • 15% dead/injured
     • 75,000 buried in mass graves
       • Prevents spread of disease
     • 80% of schools destroyed
   • Bodies piled up in streets
   • 1.5m homeless
   • 450 improvised camps
     • 800,000 people
     • 40% improvised shelter material
     • 3 camps had portable water
   • Capital's main port destroyed
   • Phone lines failed
   • Leogane (epicentre)
     • 80-90% of buildings destroyed
   • Collapsed buildings main reason for death/injury

3. Japan

   • March 2011
     • 2:46pm
   • Coast dropped over a metre
   • Moved 3m
   • 10,000's died
   • Ripped away most infrastructure
   • Source 100km off coast
   • Automatic warnings
     • Tv/alarms
   • Fukushima power plant close to source
     • Reactors automatically cooled down
   • 9 on reichter scale
   • Earthquake lasted 5mins
   • Liquefaction
   • Tsunami triggered by earthquake
     • Moved at 300km/hr +
     • Height of wave varied town to town
     • Deeper water=faster tsunami
     • Warning systems
     • Very flat land by coast
       • Lots of people live here
     • Defense walls useless because of coastal drop
     • Houses carried by water
   • Fires from gas leaks
   • Trains stopped running
   • People sleeping at work
   • Exclusion zone around power plant
   • Over 600 aftershocks
   • Temporary shelters full
   • 20,000+dead