Iceland is bracing for a volcanic eruption. Here's the latest on evacuations and travel restrictions
Thousands of residents in Grindavik were forced to evacuate after a state of emergency was declared.
Iceland remains on high alert as meteorological experts warn that a volcanic eruption is likely in the coming days. Grindavik, a small fishing town in the southwest of the country, has been the center of ongoing seismic activity since Nov. 10.
Residents of Grindavik were forced to evacuate their homes after a state of emergency was declared over a looming eruption from the Fagradalsfjall volcano. Over the past six days, constant earthquakes and tremors have buckled roads and split houses apart. Visitors have been told to stay away from the area, and roads have been closed off.
What’s happening in Iceland?
Last weekend, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) announced that after a sharp rise in seismic activity, a volcanic eruption was likely in the Reykjanes Peninsula. As of Thursday, the possibility of an eruption remains significantly high.
Scientists have said that magma is believed to be just 500 meters below the surface on the edge of the town, meaning an eruption is possible at any moment. In just 12 hours, from midnight to midday on Tuesday, the affected area experienced over 700 earthquakes as a result of magma moving underneath the Earth’s surface. The largest measured at a 3.8 magnitude; however, the majority were considered to be micro-earthquakes. This could be the sign of a new “eruptive cycle,” said Matthew Roberts, who works at the IMO.
How has the government responded?
On Tuesday, authorities in Iceland began the process of building defense walls around the Svartsengi Geothermal Power Plant to protect it from lava flows. The power plant provides electricity to the entire country.
Residents were allowed to return to Grindavik for a short period on Tuesday to salvage precious belongings and collect essential items. “This is one of the biggest evacuations we’ve ever had,” Aslaug Yngvadottir Tulinius, who works at the Icelandic Red Cross, told the BBC. “It’s a huge incident. It has a great effect on all Icelanders.”
For now, Grindavik remains a “ghost town.”
Following days of constant earthquakes, homes and roads have split and cracked, leaving some on the brink of collapse. “If you talk to Icelandic people who have lived there all their lives, they say they have never felt something like that,” local Pedrag said about the tremors that were felt over the weekend.
“The last time that an evacuation of an entire sizable settlement took place was 50 years ago, in 1973, when a volcano unexpectedly erupted on the island of Heimaey off the south coast of Iceland,” Dave McGarvie, a volcanologist researching volcano-ice interactions at Lancaster University in England, told Yahoo News.
Last Friday, the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management told residents that it was “clear that we are dealing with events that we Icelanders have not experienced before.” But it asked that they stay resilient. “We will face this together, and we will not lose heart.”
Could the eruption be dangerous?
“In terms of danger, the obvious concern within Iceland is that an eruption occurs within the western parts of the fishing town of Grindavik,” McGarvie explained. “There is an underground magma-filled crack beneath this part of town, and if the magma reaches the surface and erupts, then it would destroy and damage several houses and other buildings.”
He added: “This is a worst-case scenario and is not considered to be the most likely one given the current understanding of where magma is most likely to reach the surface and erupt.”
Have any travel warnings been issued?
Multiple major roads that connect Grindavik to other areas have been temporarily closed as a precautionary measure. The roads included are:
43
428
427
426
425
No flights have been affected as of Thursday. However, Grindavik is located roughly 40 miles from Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, and less than 20 miles from the country’s only international airport, Keflavik.
The Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, a popular tourist attraction, has been temporarily closed.
When was the last major volcanic eruption?
“The last time eruptions like this occurred in this area was circa 800 years ago when the area was sparsely populated,” McGarvie said.
The Reykjanes Peninsula has experienced a relatively small eruption every year for the last three years — with all three occurring far from residential areas. The last volcano in Iceland to cause international mayhem was Eyjafjallajökull, which erupted in 2010. A huge ash cloud that blew 5 miles into the sky grounded flights across Europe, forcing its airspace to shut down.
