An earthquake wave hits Iceland and there are fears of a volcanic eruption

Residents of the town of Grindavik in Iceland were evacuated on Saturday night. The risk of a major volcanic eruption is described as high.

Several recent earthquakes in Iceland have increased the risk of volcanic eruptions.

The strongest seismic measurements were made on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

The most vulnerable residents of the town of Grindavik live on the peninsula.

• Institute of Meteorology in Iceland reported at around 1pm on Saturday that there had been more than 800 earthquakes in the area since midnight.
• From Thursday to Friday, more than 1,400 earthquakes were recorded in the same area.

The likelihood of an outbreak in the near future should be considered high, the institute wrote.

– We are still in the middle of the crisis, but what we are grateful for is that there were no losses of life, says Iceland’s President Göni Thorlasius Johansson to the radio. Four wheel drive car.

The intensity of the eruption could be as great as a holohraun eruption, says Magnus Tommi Guðmundsson, a professor of geophysics at Icelandic RUV University.

The Holuhraun eruption in 2014 and 2015 was the largest volcanic eruption in Iceland in more than 300 years.

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On Saturday night, the authorities decided to evacuate the town of Grindavik. A state of emergency has been declared.

Civil Defense Director Vier Rennison said at around 1pm on Saturday that it was not known how long the evacuation would last.

– Residents are preparing for the fact that it will last several days.

Grindavík residents were given between two and three hours to evacuate, and numerous roadblocks were set up.

Rennison describes the situation As a “very strong scenario” And there is no indication that the matter is approaching an end.

– The last 24 hours have been difficult for many people.

The situation is that the area is closed to everyone, and therefore valuables are not allowed to be kept.
Watch a video of one of the earthquakes here:

– Like a ghost town

Last night, Icelandic correspondent Alma Omarsdóttir stood in the streets of Grindavik, in special circumstances after the entire city’s population had been evacuated.

– As if I were in a ghost town, I described it to the broadcaster Four wheel drive car.

RUV also reported this morning that the city lost power.

Earthquakes are caused by the movement of magma, which is molten rock, underground. When the magma reaches the surface, it is called lava, writes Store norske Lexikon.

Elisabet Palmadottir from the Meteorological Institute of Iceland He says to announcer Roof there now”MagmaMagmaMagma is molten rock that moves with bits of solid rock, crystalline grains and gases beneath the Earth’s surface, writes Store norske Lexikon. When magma reaches the surface, it is called lava. – Tunnel under the city, and that this is what caused the evacuation to begin.

On Saturday morning, geophysics professor Magnus Tommy Gumundsson said the magma tunnel must have reached its full extent, he wrote. Four wheel drive car.

It is unclear whether it will float to the surface in the form of lava, and if so where.

He refers to the activity as a “very large event”:

– It happened very quickly. It is very uncertain what will happen in the near future.

The authorities are clear that this can happen in populated areas.

– It is clear that we are dealing with an incident that Icelanders have not witnessed since its outbreak Raspberry vestmanayagaRaspberry vestmanayagaThere have been several large volcanic eruptions on the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago in the 20th century. In January 1973, there was an eruption of Eldfell, which, according to Store norske Lexikon, formed a 223-meter-high mountain in a former meadow. Almost the entire population was evacuated to the mainland. The eruption lasted 155 days and destroyed 417 homes. ” says Vier Rennison.

Evacuated: – Scary

Marko Jankovic (33), who has been linked to Norwegian football club Honefoss BK for seven seasons, is among those evacuated from Grindavik. He had grown up in the city, and had returned from Honefoss a little less than two weeks ago.

On Saturday night, he and his parents sat in a family apartment in Reykjavik.

-We moved there three days ago because of the situation. But we still work in Grindavik, and we travel there every day, he tells VG.

– Now there is no one in the city.

Markovic, who will soon move from Norway with his wife and two children, describes a frightening situation.

-You don’t feel afraid anymore when everyone is evacuated and safe, but this is our hometown, the city we love. He says it is very scary if the outcome is worse.

Maybe we talk about days

According to the Meteorological Institute of Iceland, the situation in Iceland is reminiscent of the prelude to previous volcanic eruptions.

– It may be a matter of days rather than hours when it comes to a volcanic eruption, the head of deformation measurements at the institute, Benedikt Ovegsson, told RUV on Friday evening.

An orange danger level has been issued for air traffic. According to RUV, this has no significance at the moment for the operation of Keflavik Airport, says Gojon Helgason, information representative at Isavia, according to RUV.

Operations at the airport return to normal on Saturday afternoon.

says Thorvaldur Thordarsson, professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland Morgunblaðið He is surprised that earthquakes have struck the south of the country so far.

He believes that the decision to evacuate Grindavik was the right one.

– There is nothing to wait for. There is a possibility that there is magma underneath. “This could surface in the city, or it could happen somewhere else — I hope so,” he says.