Earthquake interrupts Grindavik mayor’s interview
Residents of Grindavik were allowed back briefly on Monday to collect their belongings amid the risk of a volcanic eruption, with a magma tunnel forming underground.
Seismic activity in southwestern Iceland decreased in size and intensity on Monday, but the risk of a volcanic eruption remained significant, authorities said, after earthquakes and evidence of magma spreading underground in recent weeks.
Almost 4,000 people were evacuated over the weekend as authorities feared that molten rock would rise to the surface of the earth and potentially hit a coastal town and a geothermal power station.
However, yesterday police in Suðurnes decided to give residents until 4pm to collect necessities from their homes before evacuating the town again.
Earlier, shock images showed roads split apart near Grindavik as the country braced for a volcanic eruption following a series of earthquakes and with evidence of magma spreading underground.
Experts said a nine-mile river of magma running beneath the peninsula was still active, putting Grindavik at risk.
Key Points
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Are flights still running amid fears of volcano eruption?
Despite fears of an impending volcanic eruption, flights from the UK to Keflavik international airport 10 miles north of the eruption site are going ahead as usual.
On Sunday 12 November, all scheduled flights from Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and Manchester landed without incident.
Holly Evans14 November 2023 09:11
Residents report constant shaking in town of Grindavik
Thorvaldur Thordarson, professor in vulcanology at the University of Iceland, said most recent data indicated a smaller risk of an eruption in the area around the town of Grindavik.
Inhabitants of Grindavik described being whisked from their homes in the early hours of Saturday as the ground shook, roads cracked and buildings suffered structural damage.
Hans Vera, a Belgian-born 56-year-old who has lived in Iceland since 1999, said there had been a constant shaking of his family’s house.
“You would never be steady, it was always shaking, so there was no way to get sleep,” said Vera, who is now staying at his sister-in-law’s home in a Reykjavik suburb.
“It’s not only the people in Grindavik who are shocked about this situation it’s the whole of Iceland.”
Cracks emerging in the road near Grindavik
(via REUTERS)
Holly Evans14 November 2023 08:40
What are your rights if you are on holiday or are planning to go?
The town of Grindavík, just 10 miles south of Keflavik International Airport, has been evacuated as a precaution.
Read more from travel correspondent Simon Calder below
Holly Evans14 November 2023 07:54
How many active volcanoes are there in Iceland
Iceland is accustomed to volcanic eruption and is home to 33 active volcanoes, reported AFP.
Reykjanes peninsula itself has seen three eruptions since 2021, one each year – in March 2021, August 2022 and July 2023.
The red shimmer from magma flowing out from the erupting Fagradalsfjall volcano behind the landmark Blue Lagoon, some 45 km west of the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, on 19 March 2021
(AFP via Getty Images)
Lava spurts and flows after the eruption of a volcano in the Reykjanes Peninsula
(Reuters)
But these three were located away from infrastructure or populated areas. The country is susceptible to earthquakes because it sits on a tectonic plate boundary that continually splits apart, pushing North America and Eurasia away from each other along the line of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
A powerful mantle plume, an area that is hotter than the surrounding magma, sits below it, which melts and thins the Earth’s crust, putting Iceland at a constant risk of volcanic eruption.
Namita Singh14 November 2023 07:00
In pictures: A view of cracks on a road due to volcanic activity near Grindavik
A view of cracks, emerged on a road due to volcanic activity, near Grindavik, Iceland 13 November 2023
(Reuters)
A view of cracks, emerged on a road due to volcanic activity, near Grindavik
(Reuters)
A view of cracks, emerged on a road due to volcanic activity, near Grindavik, Iceland on 13 November 2023
(Reuters)
A view of cracks, emerged on a road due to volcanic activity, near Grindavik
(Reuters )
Namita Singh14 November 2023 06:30
Locals return home to collect belongings
Residents of Grindavik were allowed back briefly on Monday to collect their belongings.
Thousands of people were evacuated from the south-western Reykjanes Peninsula over the weekend after the region was hit by hundreds of quakes amid fears of a volcanic eruption.
Pedrag, a native Serb who evacuated with his wife on Friday, said the couple went home on Monday to retrieve some belongings.
An evacuation order for Grindavik was given in the early hours of Saturday.
“If you talk to Icelandic people who have lived there all their lives, they say they have never felt something like that,” he told the BBC.
The police in Suðurnes decided to close Grindavík at 4pm yesterday. People had time until then to collect necessities from their homes before the town was evacuated again.
The Reykjanes peninsula is a volcanic and seismic hot spot southwest of the capital. In March 2021, lava fountains erupted spectacularly from a fissure in the ground measuring between 500-750 metres long in the region’s Fagradalsfjall volcanic system.
Volcanic activity in the area continued for six months that year, prompting thousands of Icelanders and tourists to visit the scene. In August 2022, a three-week eruption happened in the same area, followed by another in July of this year.
Namita Singh14 November 2023 06:00
Roughly 900 earthquakes rattled Iceland since midnight, many of them reported along a 9-mile magma tunnel running beneath the seaside town of Grindavik, said the Icelandic Meteorological Office on Monday, according to national public service broadcaster RÚV.
A car drives toward a crack in a road in the town of Grindavik, Iceland on Monday 13 November 2023 following seismic activity
(AP)
Magma has been measured at a depth of 800m at the shallowest point of a 15km magma tunnel that runs through the town.
Namita Singh14 November 2023 05:30
Are flights still running amid fears of volcano eruption?
Despite fears of an impending volcanic eruption, flights from the UK to Keflavik international airport 10 miles north of the eruption site are going ahead as usual, report Simon Calder and Lydia Patrick.
Namita Singh14 November 2023 05:00
Watch: Iceland roads cracked and evacuations ordered amid looming volcanic eruption
Iceland roads cracked and evacuations ordered amid looming volcanic eruption
Cracks were on roads near Grindavik in Iceland as the country prepared for a volcanic eruption following a series of earthquakes and evidence of magma spreading underground. On Saturday, 11 November, the Icelandic Meteorological Office that there was a “considerable” risk of an eruption on or close to the Reykjanes peninsula due to the size of the underground magma intrusion and the rate at which it was moving. In the past few days, the country has been shaken by more than 2,000 small earthquakes and thousands of people have been told to evacuate Grindavik. The eruption is expected to begin on the seabed just southwest of the town.
Namita Singh14 November 2023 04:30
ICYMI: Town of Grindavik could be obliterated if volcanic eruption strikes
The country has been shaken by more than 2,000 small earthquakes in the past few days, prompting fears that the tremors could disrupt the Fagradalsfjall volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula in the southwest of the country.
Matt Mathers14 November 2023 04:00