Systemic risks perspectives of Eyjafjallajökull volcano's 2010 eruption

In 2010, southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted, releasing ash that spread across Europe. Due to its potential to damage aircraft, much of European airspace was closed for six days. Known problems were brought to the forefront regarding the anticipation of and response to systemic...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Progress in Disaster Science
Main Authors: Ilan Kelman, David Alexander, Carina Fearnley, Susanna Jenkins, Peter Sammonds
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2023.100282
https://doaj.org/article/af54e63df73e422fb713b3e8f85f0b56
Description
Summary:In 2010, southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted, releasing ash that spread across Europe. Due to its potential to damage aircraft, much of European airspace was closed for six days. Known problems were brought to the forefront regarding the anticipation of and response to systemic risks. To contribute a deeper understanding of this situation, this paper explores this disaster through its fundamental causes and cascading impacts, highlighting perspectives from disaster risk reduction, complexity sciences, and health in order to support analysis and resolution of systemic risks. Two principal future directions emerge from this work. First, how to manage dependency on air travel. Second, how to think about and act to avert future calamities.