Iceland faces ‘daunting interval’ after long-dormant volcanic system awakens | EUROtoday

On Jan 15, 2024

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Iceland’s president stated the nation is battling “tremendous forces of nature”, after molten lava from a volcano within the island’s southwest consumed a number of homes within the evacuated city of Grindavik.

Issued on: 15/01/2024 – 10:54

2 min

President Gudni Th. Johannesson stated in a televised deal with late Sunday that “a daunting period of upheaval has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula,” the place a long-dormant volcanic system has woke up.

A volcano on the peninsula erupted for the second time in lower than a month on Sunday morning. Authorities had ordered residents to depart the fishing city of Grindavik hours earlier as a swarm of small earthquakes indicated an imminent eruption.

Lava is seen approaching residential buildings in the southwestern Icelandic town of Grindavik after a volcanic eruption on January 14, 2024. — Lava is seen approaching residential buildings within the southwestern Icelandic city of Grindavik after a volcanic eruption on January 14, 2024. © Halldor Kolbeins, AFP

Geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson stated Monday morning that the eruption had “decreased considerably” in a single day, however that it was unattainable to say when it might finish.

Grindavik, a city of three,800 folks about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, was beforehand evacuated in November when the Svartsengi volcanic system woke up after nearly 800 years.

Read extraIn footage: homes catch fireplace as volcano erupts in southwestern Iceland

The volcano finally erupted on Dec. 18, sending lava flowing away from Grindavik. Residents have been allowed to return to their properties on Dec. 22.

Since then, emergency employees have been constructing defensive partitions which have stopped a lot of the lava circulate from the brand new eruption wanting the city.

Emergency personnel use diggers to fill in the last hole in a protective wall trying to prevent flowing lava to reach the centre of the southwestern Icelandic town of Grindavik on January 14, 2024. — Emergency personnel use diggers to fill within the final gap in a protecting wall attempting to forestall flowing lava from reaching the centre of the southwestern Icelandic city of Grindavik on January 14, 2024. © Halldor Kolbeins, AFP

No one has been killed within the eruptions, however a workman is lacking after reportedly falling right into a crack opened by the volcano.

“We don’t yet know how this eruption will unfold, but we must still take those actions that are within our power,” the president stated.

“We continue to hope for as good an outcome as possible, in the face of these tremendous forces of nature,” he added. “We will keep it up with our duties and we’ll proceed to face collectively.”

This handout photo by the Icelandic Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management shows smoke and lava flowing from the volcano that erupted on the outskirts of the evacuated Grindavik in so — This handout picture by the Icelandic Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management reveals smoke and lava flowing from the volcano that erupted on the outskirts of the evacuated Grindavik in southwestern Iceland on January 14, 2024. © Icelandic Department of Civil Protection through AFP

Iceland, which sits above a volcanic sizzling spot within the North Atlantic, averages one eruption each 4 to 5 years. The most disruptive in current occasions was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed clouds of ash into the environment and disrupted trans-Atlantic air journey for months.

The newest eruption isn’t anticipated to launch giant quantities of ash into the air. Operations at Keflavík Airport are persevering with as regular, stated Gudjon Helgason, spokesman for airport operator Isavia.

(AP)

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240115-iceland-faces-daunting-period-after-long-dormant-volcanic-system-awakens