From the Icelandic eruption, we can see that the impacts are not just restricted within the country of the eruption. The ash from the eruption spread from Turkey, Morocco, Spain and even down south to North Africa. This means that the physical negative impacts is very serious. If we were to look at the number of flights that had been cancelled/rescheduled due to the ashes from the eruption, we see how human lives are affected too. This is not the end as reports have shown that the ash are set to return.
No doubt the impacts are huge and seemingly disastrous, this is however not the most serious eruption in Iceland. About 227 years ago a far more devastating eruption occurred wiping out a fifth of the island's population - as well as tens of thousands across Europe. For 8 months, Lakagigar spewed lava and belched more toxic gases than any eruption in the last 150 years.
Sometimes, I wonder if these eruptions are becoming more common due to greater plate movements, or is it due to greater media coverage? It is because the earth is indeed changing or is it because we become more aware of the disasters due to better media publicity through the internet/tv programmes which did not exist in the past?
No doubt, this is an interesting Geography in the living for all Geographers out there to study, reflect and maybe analyse the solutions to reduce the impacts future eruptions. But can we really control nature? Hmmm...
Sources: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_iceland_volcano
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8624791.stm
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