Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve heard about the recent eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull which disrupted world wide air traffic for almost a week.

Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded throughout the world since the eruption sent a cloud of ash almost 2000 kilometers across Europe. Traveling to Europe could be hazardous to your health as volcanic ash clouds have been known too be highly destructive to jet engines thanks to high silica content. With major airports closed across the European continent, and daily air traffic suddenly cut from 28,000 to as few as 9000 flights, air transport companies have lost up to $23 million each day – and the
cost to various economies is estimated in the billions. Even Canada had closed the airport at St. John’s, Newfoundland, the first in North America to be affected by the volcanic ash plume, after government officials anticipated that some of the ash may be drifting toward it.

For now, the volcano in question appears to have settled down somewhat after it’s last massive eruption and air traffic is gradually being allowed to resume, though with some restrictions because that silica-laden ash is still present in some regions. While politicians and airline executives bemoan the financial costs of this disaster, scientists are drawing attention to the fact that there could be much worse effects to come. Some say that the ash cloud already released could potentially lower summer temperatures in
Europe, thus causing pasture and crops to suffer, leading to food shortages and higher prices.

Others have pointed out that there is another and even more dangerous volcano in Iceland. It’s name is Katla, and in the past it too has come to life shortly after the one that has caused this recent drama. If Katla were to erupt, the ash cloud that would result could equal the destruction of the 1783 eruption of it’s neighbor Laki, which was sufficient to cause the widespread famine across Europe of the 1780′s. That famine has been regarded as one of the factors that led to the French Revolution.

This potential for worldwide devastation is why we stress the importance of cutting back on non-essential purchases, and starting to stock up on food. Just buy a little extra in the way of canned goods if that’s all you can afford to start, but make a start.

In the past, we’ve seen very clearly that your life can be disrupted in a minute by nature, be it an earthquake or a tsunami or in this case a volcano that is costing airlines billions in lost money, and hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded around the world, probably with no personal emergency pack in sight.

To reinforce the point and looking to the future, a thaw in coming decades caused by climate change may trigger more volcanic eruptions by removing a vast weight and freeing magma from deep below ground, research suggests. “Our work suggests that eventually there will be either somewhat larger eruptions or more frequent eruptions in Iceland in coming decades,” said Freysteinn Sigmundsson, a vulcanologist at the University of Iceland. Also at risk are volcanoes from Antarctica (Mt. Erebus) to the Aleutian islands of
Alaska to Patagonia in South America.

Now if silica can damage a jet engine, you have to also be aware that it can be absolutely lethal to your lungs, as people discovered when Mount St. Helens in Washington exploded in 1980. Therefore you need dust protection on hand, and the most convenient form of dust protection is masks. You may say to yourself that there’s no problem now, but what if the ash continues for another month or more? What if it happens HERE?

As with all things to do with disaster preparedness, we cannot predict how long we’ll be able to get supplies of any sort at today’s prices. And when an emergency strikes you can bet suppliers will rapidly run out of stock, or there will be serious delays in keeping up with orders, and you can also bet that prices will go up. But perhaps this Iceland event will put things in a new perspective, especially when you consider that there “have” been many attempts to alert us to the danger we could be in in the event of a truly major volcanic eruption. Yellowstone comes to mind.

The Yellowstone Caldera sits atop one of the largest known supervolcanoes, and it is far from dormant. In the past, eruptions of the Yellowstone have been some of the most destructive explosions ever discovered. From the Yellowstone Nation Park website: “The volume of volcanic rock produced by the first Yellowstone caldera eruption was about 600 cubic miles-about … 2,400 times as much as Mount St. Helen’s, an almost incomprehensible figure. One more statistic: … Yellowstone ash is found in Ventura, California to the west and the Iowa to the east. It is likely the earth has seldom in its long history experienced caldera explosions on the scale of those that created Yellowstone.” The amount of ash expelled by these eruptions have covered anywhere from one-third to more than-one half of the land in the United States. The famine and devastation from an event like this would be catastrophic.

Yellowstone isn’t the only major caldera in the United States. The Long Valley Caldera in California is so close to big cities and millions of people that the media won’t even “go there…” but it too has the potential to create a volcanic winter.

If you haven’t already seen the good sense in being prepared for the unexpected, let’s hope the Iceland eruption and the chaos it has caused is the last wake-up call you’ll need, so that you and as many people as possible can BE PREPARED.

The Four Basics of survival that we recommend you have close to hand in the event of an earthquake or any other emergency are Food, Water, Medical, and Shelter. Whether you’re caught at home, at work, or on the road, a 72-hour kit is an excellent place to start. With these in the trunk, you’re covered as best you can be when the unexpected happens.