What's Ireland Really Like?

Ireland is a beautiful island off the west coast of Europe, their closest neighbors being the UK.  One can't say Ireland isn't lovely.  But before anyone jumps on a plane to go visit Ireland, or any country for that matter, it's important to know what to expect from the trip, not only the language, food, clothes, sayings, etc. but also the hazards, and disasters for safety precautions.  Luckily for me, Ireland is relatively relaxed when it comes to any natural disasters.  Ireland is located on the Eurasian plate and it's off to the left side of it in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  The Eurasian plate are associated with major earthquakes, flooding, and mass wasting (see Table 2.4 pg. 36).  Mass wasting being slope movement or more commonly known as landslides.  The Eurasian plate is a convergent plate that collides but on the west wing, which is where Ireland lies, it acts more like a transform plate that slides past one another.  It's not close to the boundary of the plate so any form of natural disasters are mild to moderate.  Ireland is located on the Atlantic fringe of Europe which is influenced more by the Atlantic circulation instead of the continent.   Ireland experienced some extreme weather and storms and disasters in the past, although, recently nothing has been close to a catastrophe.  Since the early 1900s, Ireland has experienced 50 landslides which were caused by excessive rainfall and then followed by dry periods.  In 2009, Ireland experienced widespread flooding.

Flooding along the banks of river Shannon near Athlone

Ireland has withstood 80 minor earthquakes in the past 30 years.  That's a lot of earthquakes but they were very mild.  In 1984,an earthquake of 5.4 magnitude hit Ireland and nothing more powerful than that is expected to occur for awhile or forever.  The second largest  local earthquake in Ireland was a 4.0 in 2012.  With major earthquakes, tsunamis tend to follow.  Ireland experienced, what was called a tsunami, in 2011.  Although, "tsunami" is a bit of an overstatement because it was roughly a 46cm wave.  It is more like a tidal wave according to some articles.  Ireland does, however, have hazards of more tsunamis occurring but it seems unlikely to be anything major.  Where Ireland is located, it quite a calm location on the Eurasian plate away from any boundaries or volcanic activity.  Some ways were discovered on possibilities of tsunamis occurring due to landslides or earthquakes.  First, the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja in the Canary Islands could set off a tsunami in Ireland's direction.  Second, this thing called a submarine landslide, which is when a large volume of material moves or shifts underwater.  Finally, the Azores-Gibraltar fault which caused the two most recent tsunamis in Ireland in 1755 and 1761 due to an 8.6 earthquake in Lisbon.  Not so recent, I know.  As you can see, Ireland seems like an overall wonderful place to visit or even make it a home!  There are no recent disasters but Ireland is always on hazard watch because we can't predict mother nature perfectly, though we try.  So go check out some of Ireland's beautiful sites, especially the castles!

Location of 2012 Earthquake

Landslide Susceptibility 

Damage from flooding

Sources:

https://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/research/climate/CCRP_5_Kiely_ExtremeWeather_syn_web.pdf.pdf

http://www.newstalk.com/Ireland-on-shaky-ground-with-earthquakes-and-tsunamis-

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Boston: Pearson, 2015. Print.