Icelandic authorities have declared a state of emergency after a series of powerful earthquakes rocked the country’s southwestern Reykjanes peninsula, signalling the increased likelihood of a volcanic eruption in the region.
“The National police chief … declares a state of emergency for civil defence due to the intense earthquake (activity) at Sundhnjukagigar, north of Grindavik,” the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management said in a statement.
“Earthquakes can become larger than those that have occurred and this series of events could lead to an eruption,” the administration warned.
The Icelandic Met Office (IMO) said an eruption could take place “in several days”.
I still remember the 2010 Event (Eyjafjallajökull) where airtravel was greatly impacted by it for a whole week at least.
The disruptions started over an initial period of six days in April 2010. Additional localised disruption continued into May 2010, and eruptive activity persisted until June 2010. The eruption was declared officially over in October 2010, after 3 months of inactivity, when snow on the glacier did not melt. From 14 to 20 April, ash from the volcanic eruption covered large areas of Northern Europe. About 20 countries closed their airspace to commercial jet traffic and it affected approximately 10 million travellers.
Composite map of the volcanic ash cloud spanning 14–25 April 2010
We got stranded in Rome and had to get a train via Switzerland and the channel tunnel to get home. It was epic
Every time this is brought up all I can think of is this guy
They’ve now evacuated the nearest town since “It cannot be ruled out that the magma tunnel goes under Grindavík”.
vol canoes
Lots of small quakes today. The Icelanders just shrug it off and drink another vodka.
I believe their drink of choice is Gin.
Good to know. Maybe I’ll go there some day. BTW, gin used to be made from juniper berries. Juniper berries are poisonous.
I just went in July and saw the volcano. It was incredible. I’m hoping everyone on the island stays safe with this volcanic resurgence.
It’s quite hard and expensive to buy strong spirits in Iceland, you have to get them from government ran specialist shops. It’s a relic of the country being dry for a long time.
Well, I, for one, hope they catch the bastard threatening them with volcano stuff. Volcanos and their accomplices need to start being held accountable for their crimes against humanity and involuntary sacrifices they are complicit in and linked to
—Jack McCoy, probably
