Iceland Declares State of Emergency Amid Fears of Volcanic Eruption
Iceland has declared a state of emergency after a series of earthquakes rocked the Reykjanes peninsula in the south-west of the country, raising fears of a volcanic eruption in the region. Authorities have warned that the seismic activity could lead to an eruption, prompting evacuation plans for the town of Grindavik.
“The head of the national police force has declared a state of emergency for civil defence due to intense seismic activity in Sundhnjukagigar, north of Grindavik,” the civil defence authority said in a statement.
According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), an eruption could occur “within a few days.” The office has recorded a dense swarm of almost 800 earthquakes between midnight and 14:00 GMT on Friday, with an accumulation of magma at a depth of five kilometers, which, if brought to the surface, could trigger a volcanic eruption.
As a precaution, the ‘Blue Lagoon’, a tourist site near Grindavik famous for its geothermal spas, has been closed.
The town of Grindavik, with a population of around 4,000, is being evacuated, and the civil protection authority has announced that it is sending the Thor patrol boat to Grindavik for safety purposes.
Early on Friday, two earthquakes, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 5.2, were felt as far away as the capital Reykjavik, some forty kilometers away, and along a large part of the country’s southern coast. Since the end of October, some 24,000 tremors have been recorded on the peninsula.
Iceland has 33 active volcanic systems, the highest number in Europe, and has experienced three eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula since 2021. The last eruption in 2010, which occurred at Eyjafjallajökull, caused widespread disruption to air travel in Europe, leading to the cancellation of 100,000 flights and leaving ten million passengers stranded.