Updated 01.07 | Published 2023-12-18 23.57
A volcanic eruption has started on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula. The extent is still unclear, but there is a risk that the lava flows could reach the evacuated town of Grindavik.
“We hope for the best,” says Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir.
A strong earthquake was measured north of the town of Grindavik at 9pm on Monday and about an hour later magma erupted from the ground. The eruption is visible on webcams.
“The coast guard will be on the air shortly to confirm the exact location and size of the eruption,” writes the Icelandic weather authority on its website.
Lava threatens city
Police assess that no one should be in immediate danger, emergency services have been called to the area.
It is still unclear how extensive the eruption is, but there is a risk that lava flows could reach the city of Grindavik, says Kristín Jónsdóttir, head of natural hazards at the weather authority, to the public service company Rúv.
The town’s mayor, Fannar Jónasson, tells Rúv that he believes the town was deserted when the eruption began.
Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir states that it appears to be a major outbreak.
“Our thoughts go out as before to the local population, we hope for the best,” she writes in a statement on social media.
4,000 inhabitants
Little Grindavik with about 4,000 inhabitants approximately, four miles southwest of Reykjavik, was evacuated in mid-November after hundreds of earthquakes and the discovery of a 15-kilometer magma flow underground just outside the city.
It is the fourth eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula in three years.
Iceland, and Reykjanes in particular, lies directly over the “Mid-Atlantic Ridge” where the Eurasian and North American continental plates meet. This means that volcanic eruptions are very common.