In the past few days, Iceland has been shaken by more than 2,000 small quakes.
The earth has been most restless in Iceland, where fears of a volcanic eruption loom after thousands of earthquakes in the region. Several videos have been posted by people from the region that show their houses shaking. One of the clips now going viral shows a road splitting apart near Grindavik and steam coming out as magma spreads underground. On Saturday, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said that there was a “considerable” risk of an eruption on or close to the Reykjanes peninsula due to the size of the underground magma and the rate at which it was moving.
New aerial footage from Grindavik, Iceland, shows a large crack in the center of the town with apparent steam emanating from it. pic.twitter.com/Mjlxafr8ot
— Nahel Belgherze (@WxNB_) November 13, 2023
In the past few days, Iceland has been shaken by more than 2,000 small quakes and people have been told to evacuate Grindavik, home to around 4,000 people.
After waiting for hours in their cars, residents could enter their homes for just a few minutes to collect their valuables, with Icelandic police and civil protection vehicles on standby.
The UK foreign office has issued a travel advice, warning that a volcanic eruption is likely. The advisory was updated and now reads, “Earthquakes and indications of volcanic activity have increased above normal levels on the Reykjanes peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik.”
Iceland, which has 33 active volcanic systems, has declared a state of emergency, with shelters and help centres opened in several nearby towns.
“We have a fissure that’s about 15 kilometres long, and anywhere on that fissure we can see that an eruption could happen,” Vidir Reynisson, head of Iceland’s Civil Protection and Emergency Management agency, told news agency AFP.
Meanwhile, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, Mount Etna in Italy, erupted on Sunday night. Video taken nearby showed the night sky illuminated by the eruption.
No one lives in the immediate vicinity surrounding the volcano.
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