Iceland Evacuates Town As Volcano Threatens To Erupt

November 12th, 2023

Awake Goy

LONDON (AP) — Residents of a fishing town in southwestern Iceland left their homes Saturday after increasing concern about a potential volcanic eruption caused civil defense authorities to declare a state of emergency in the region.

Police decided to evacuate Grindavik after recent seismic activity in the area moved south toward the town and monitoring indicated that a corridor of magma, or semi-molten rock, now extends under the community, Iceland’s Meteorological Office said. The town of 3,400 is on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of the capital, Reykjavik.

View of Grindavik, a small fishing village on the Reykjanes peninsula in the southwest of the country.

“At this stage, it is not possible to determine exactly whether and where magma might reach the surface,” the Meteorological Office said.

Authorities also raised their aviation alert to orange, indicating an increased risk of a volcanic eruption. Volcanic eruptions pose a serious hazard to aviation because they can spew highly abrasive ash high into the atmosphere, where it can cause jet engines to fail, damage flight control systems and reduce visibility.

A major eruption in Iceland in 2010 caused widespread disruption to air travel between Europe and North America, costing airlines an estimated $3 billion as they canceled more than 100,000 flights.

GRINDAVIK, ICELAND – 2023/11/09: Next to the Blue Lagoon is the Grindavik geothermal power station. Iceland is preparing for another volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula. After more than 1400 earthquakes during the last 48 hours in the Grindavik area, experts warn of a very likely volcanic eruption in the coming days. In 2021, 2022, and 2023, successive volcanic eruptions occurred near the Grindavik area, populated with some 3200 people. For the time being, the well-known Blue Lagoon thermal spa has closed its doors due to the great risk that a volcanic fissure could open up in the same area. (Photo by Raul Moreno/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The evacuation comes after the region was shaken by hundreds of small earthquakes every day for more than two weeks as scientists monitor a buildup of magma some 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) underground.

Concern about a possible eruption increased in the early hours of Thursday when a magnitude 4.8 earthquake hit the area, forcing the internationally known Blue Lagoon geothermal resort to close temporarily.

In this Feb. 21, 2006 file photo Tourists relax in the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, Iceland on Feb. 21,2006. The geothermal spa Blue Lagoon has temporarily closed after a series of earthquakes have put Iceland’s southwestern corner on volcanic alert, reaching a state of panic on Thursday when a magnitude 5.0 earthquake occurred just after midnight.

The seismic activity started in an area north of Grindavik where there is a network of 2,000-year-old craters, geology professor Pall Einarrson, told Iceland’s RUV. The magma corridor is about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) long and spreading, he said.

“The biggest earthquakes originated there, under this old series of craters, but since then it (the magma corridor) has been getting longer, went under the urban area in Grindavík and is heading even further and towards the sea,” he said.

Source

Myanmar Protests Grow After Junta Threatens Lethal Force Against Demonstrators

Scaramucci Threatens to Kill Leakers and Calls Reince Priebus “A Fucking Paranoid Schizophrenic”

Man attacks Air Canada crew with coffee pots; threatens to open the cabin door

Putin Delivers EPIC SMACK DOWN To Barack Obama That You Can See From OUTER SPACE

The WTO Threatens The Farmers’ Victory — Unless We Resist

Russia Warns Huge Megaquake About To Rip Through America