2023-12-19 01:54:29
An intense red light slashed the Icelandic sky on Monday evening. The volcanic eruption occurred near the village of Grindavik, on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula. The threat had been brewing for several weeks and the lava finally appeared this Monday.
Residents of Grindavik, located 40 km southwest of Reykjavik, were evacuated as a precaution on November 11 after hundreds of earthquakes caused by the movement of magma under the earth’s crust – a precursor to a volcanic eruption. “No country is better prepared for natural disasters than Iceland,” assured Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir. We have extensive experience with volcanic eruptions. We know that it is not necessarily wise to build, for example, a defense mechanism when the uncertainty about the possibility of an eruption is so great. »
The authorities had planned to sprinkle water on the lava in the event of an eruption, in order to cool it and protect the village of around 4,000 inhabitants. The Reykjanes Peninsula had been spared from eruptions for eight centuries, until March 2021. Since then, there have been two more, in August 2022 and July 2023.
Iceland has 33 volcanic systems, the largest number in Europe. It experiences eruptions every four to five years on average. Grindavik is located near the Svartsengi geothermal power station, the main supplier of electricity and water to the peninsula’s 30,000 inhabitants, and an important freshwater reservoir.
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