Eyjafjallajökull grounds Europe
April 14, 2010
An Icelandic volcano with an unpronounceable name spewed a high-altitude ash cloud that drifted over Europe and grounded most commercial flights for a week, stranding an estimated ten million passengers worldwide. Travelers slept on airport floors, business meetings collapsed across the continent, and a civilization built on frictionless air travel rediscovered the existence of trains and the humbling power of unforgiving geology.
In context
Also in 2010 (6 other events on record)
- Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire · Africa · Politics
- Haiti earthquake · North America · Disaster
- Pakistan's monsoon megaflood · South Asia · Disaster
- iPad unveiled · North America · Technology
- Deepwater Horizon explodes · North America · Disaster
- Chilean miners trapped · South America · Disaster
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Disaster
Era
Contemporary (2001–2026), one of 196 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources