Iceland declared a state of emergency, and officials are evacuating thousands of residents over concerns of volcanic activity.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office has recorded thousands of earthquakes in the country’s southwest region over the past several days. Police began warning residents of the coastal town of Grindavík to evacuate Friday, fearing a magma tunnel forming underneath the ground, according to CNN.
“Seismicity along the magma intrusion continues, although the size and intensity of the activity is decreasing. Since midnight today, 13 November, around 900 earthquakes have been detected. The seismic activity is concentrated on the region of the intrusion, between Sundhnúkur and Grindavík at a depth of about 2–5 km,” the Icelandic Meteorological Office posted in an update Monday morning.
On Saturday, Icelandic officials determined that “the likelihood of a volcanic eruption is high, and that an eruption could be possible on a timescale of just days.”
On Monday morning, video surfaced online showing a large crack running through Grindavík emanating smoke.
New aerial footage from Grindavik, Iceland, shows a large crack in the center of the town with apparent steam emanating from it. pic.twitter.com/Mjlxafr8ot
— Nahel Belgherze (@WxNB_) November 13, 2023
Bjarni Benediktsson, the minister of foreign affairs, announced on Saturday that Grindavik’s 3,700 residents were successfully evacuated.
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“Icelandic Civil Protection authorities have declared a state of emergency following increased seismic activity in Reykjanes Peninsula. As a precautionary measure the town of Grindavík (population 3669) was successfully evacuated last night and thankfully everyone is safe,” Benediktsson posted on social media.
“The likelihood of a volcanic eruption is deemed considerable. Seismic activity is part of Icelandic life and this is in a contained, localised area of the country. There are no disruptions to flights to and from Iceland and international flight corridors remain open,” he added.
Evacuations began on Friday when the Civil Protection Agency warned Icelanders that “we are dealing with events that we Icelanders have not experienced before, at least not since the eruption in Vestmannaeyjar.”
“We faced that together, we will face this together and we will not lose heart,” the agency said, according to CNN.