Lack of European Urban Resilience - As demonstrated by the Icelandic volcano

The lack of urban resilience in Europe has been demonstrated by the eruption of the Iceland volcano – Eyjafjallajokull. This volcanic eruption has destroyed many businesses, disrupted millions of lives, halted all air traffic, prevented food from being flown into Northern Europe, and generally caused chaos. I can write about this topic from a first-hand perspective, as I was one of the 6 million stranded overseas.

The Airline industry, along with the Insurance industry, has almost been crippled by the travel disruption caused by the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull. European airlines alone have suffered a loss of 1,4 Billion GBP – just over US$200 million a day. Those people who don’t have airlines that will provide for their accommodation, will claim for it with their Travel insurance companies. These insurance agencies have agreed that they will cover the costs of all the necessities; like accommodation, food, drink, etc. They will not, however, reimburse people for things like missed weddings, rescheduled meetings, etc.

Just a week ago, there were six million people who were stranded overseas, who were missing school, missing teaching, or even more personal and important commitments. For example, an author of a cooking book was due to meet Michelle Obama before the flights were cancelled. A more famous example is that the Polish President and many other VIP’s died in a plane crash due to bad weather on the way to a 2^nd World War commemoration. Now, due to the volcanic ash cloud, no political figures from other countries can attend the funeral of the President and his wife.

Because of the halting of all air traffic entering and exiting Northern Europe, the lack of urban resilience becomes even more evident. Prices of fruits and vegetables were expected to be raised considerably, as no fruit could be flown in from the African countries wherein they are produced. Had this eruption lasted longer, or had Eyjafjallajokull’s big sister volcano, Katla, erupted (which it may still do - as reports show that when the little volcano erupts, the bigger one, Katla, is usually soon to follow) the British and European economy would have been greatly impacted. What Europe should have been able to do, had it been more “resilient” was to drive produce in from their own countries, rather than wait for it to be flown in from overseas. One could argue that Europe is “giving aid” to other countries by buying produce from them, but I still feel that there’s no need to be completely dependent on those countries.

To increase urban resilience in Europe, Europe should be independent and self-sufficient. Commercial roof-top gardens could be grown, more revenue could be spent on local (national) agriculture, and the world shouldn’t be so dependent on air-travel for importing.