Category Archives: Videos

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Eyjafjallajökull Volcano Is Disruptive, Awesome

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Aviation authorities throughout the UK, France, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe were forced to halt all flights today as a giant plume of volcanic ash blow over the continent. The Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted Wednesday, causing some flooding and general inconvenience domestically, but the lingering and drifting cloud has caused the most problems.

The shutdown, among the most sweeping ever ordered in peacetime, forced the cancellation of thousands of flights and left airplanes stranded on the tarmac at some of the world’s busiest airports as the rolling cloud — made up of minute particles of silicate that can severely damage airplane engines — spread over Britain and toward continental Europe.

Obviously, this whole event is interrupting business throughout the EU and that is a big pain in the tuckus and people are upset and concerned and companies are losing money and yadda yadda yadda…

But much more importantly … LOOK, GUYS, IT’S LAVA … pretty much my favorite thing ever.

Below is a photo of an amazing eruption earlier this month by Eyjafjallajökull. I have no idea how to pronounce that. But it sure is gorgeous. Check out the Boston Globe‘s photo gallery for more awesome — both in the traditional sense and in cool-kid-vernacular — photos.

Eyjafjallajökull volcano glacier ash plane

An eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano earlier this year. (Photo: Ulrich Latzenhofer via the Boston Globe)

UPDATE: Even better, here’s video of an eruption in late March.

UPDATE II: And, OK, fine … here’s some actual info about the insurance and business implications of the Eyjafjallajokull disruption from our friends at National Underwriter. (h/t @travel_facts)

Gordon Woo, lead catastrophist for Risk Management Solutions, said insurance implications from the Eyjafjöll volcano eruptions could include payouts from Iceland’s national natural catastrophe insurance fund—which covers volcanic eruptions and glacial floods—if there is damage.

Additionally, he said business interruption for the aviation industry could be triggered due to the temporary closure of airspace in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia as a precaution over the airborne ash plume.

Aviation and travel insurers will be hit by the cost of several days of flight cancellations, Mr. Woo noted.

Floods from the melting glaciers will likely cause river levels to rise and potentially cause damage, RMS said, citing Iceland’s Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management.

The ash cloud affect, said Bill McGuire from the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre, can cause major damage to aircraft by clogging engines and causing them to flame out, and by scouring windscreens so as to make them opaque.

The article also mentions that the last eruption by this volcano last 12 months — so there could be ash problems again in the future. Stay tuned.

And head over to National Underwriter for even more insights from Woo and McGuire.

FEMA & the Media Cooperate for Better Preparedness

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Earlier this month at the 2010 National Hurricane Conference, FEMA got together with media members from CNN, the Weather Channel and various other outlets for a panel session aimed at improving public awareness of preparedness principles.

As most risk managers know, the core tenants of disaster planning are not rocket science. Sure, there are some very high-level endeavors going on with in fields including catastrophe modeling, GPS mapping and geoengineering, but the greatest benefits of preparedness can generally be attained just by following its literal definition: be prepared.

To that end, the administrators and journalists discussed how they can collaborate better and help educate the public — particularly the youth. Here a video with some on-site insight from some of the people who were there. (video via FEMA)

UPDATE: Here’s another FEMA video on preparedness, this one featuring Lt. Gonzalo Gerardo of the Calexico Police Department on scene after the 7.2 quake that recently rocked the California/Mexico border region. (h/t @TheFireTracker2)

State Farm Partners with Indie Rockers for Rube Goldberg-Styled Marketing in “This Too Shall Pass”

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State Farm has been branching out into nontraditional avenues to promote its products, services and brands for a while now — but never as extravagantly as its collaboration with the indie rock group OK Go.

The band, which hails from Chicago, gained internet fame in 2006 when its foray into treadmill choreography for the video of the song “Here It Goes Again” created a YouTube viral sensation. And when State Farm, which has been active on social media sites including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Youtube, saw an opportunity to help the band create its next viral vision, it jumped at the chance.

The result is a four-minute, Rube Goldberg journey through a warehouse, during which TVs are smashed, umbrellas are launched, dominoes fall and paint goes everywhere. Even if the song “This Too Shall Pass” wasn’t any good — which it is — the video would still be captivating to almost any audience. And by keeping its presence minimal and not obtrusively over-involving its brand in the production, the insurance company has helped create something that people will legitimately want to see. All of this helps increase its reputation, particularly among the younger, hipper audience who will most enjoy the video.

I had actually seen “This Too Shall Pass” twice before reading about the insurer’s involvement and didn’t even realize State Farm had anything to do with it. As you may or may not notice on your own, the red truck at the beginning that starts the dominoes and a State Farm logo after the video ends are the only evidence that the company was ever involved.

In the near-term, that may seem to trivialize State Farm’s reputational benefits. But as more and more people notice — and talk about — its involvement in a cool project, the brand becomes a little cooler. And it will likely become see as an innovative company that other creative types will want to partner with.

Essentially, rather than being a stuffy insurance company that awkwardly tries to convince people it is cool, State Farm is just sitting back and underwriting a project done by some guys who already are cool. And since underwriting is its specialty, that just makes sense.

Let’s face it, most insurance companies aren’t going to become hip on their own.

Check it out below. (video via Insurance Marketing HQ)

Mega Disasters: The Yellowstone Supervolcano

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There once was a glorious period of time after the History Channel stopped being “Hitler Central” but before it became the “Conspiracy Theory Broadcasting Network” when the channel played almost nothing but great programming. Whether it was a Band of Brothers marathon or that How the Earth Was Made documentary that I’ve watched like 12 times, you could generally tune in to History at any time night or day and find something great to watch.

Perhaps the greatest of these great shows was Mega Disasters. And, unquestionably, the greatest episode of Mega Disasters was the one that detailed the literal doomsday scenario of an eruption of the “supervolcano” lurking — for now — dormant beneath Yellowstone National Park.

The most recent eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera came 640,000 years ago and, according to these scientists, on that day “there would have been hundreds to thousands of earthquakes” as “a million tons of molten rock heated to 1800 degrees fahrenheit rushed to the surface.” In other words, that would have been the wrong day to go see Old Faithful. Or, really, just the wrong day to be a human being on planet Earth at all for that matter.

Anyway, the only reason I bring this up now is because I just happened to run across the episode in full on YouTube. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor. It’s tremendous.

And way better, scarier and better directed than 2012.

Yellowstone Supervolcano: Part 1

Yellowstone Supervolcano: Part 2

Yellowstone Supervolcano: Part 3

Yellowstone Supervolcano: Part 4

Yellowstone Supervolcano: Part 5