Iceland Declares Emergency Following Threat to Volcanic Eruption

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Iceland declared a state of emergency after a series of powerful earthquakes, numbering about 500, rocked the country’s south-western Reykjanes peninsula in the last 14 hours. The quakes are considered to be precursor to a powerful volcanic eruption.

“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.

The Icelandic town, about three kilometres from the volcano at Sundhnjukagigar, is home to some 4,000 people, was evacuated overnight after hundreds of tremors caused fears of a volcanic eruption, the authorities said on Saturday.

The town — around 40 kilometres southwest of Reykjavik — is located near the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa resort, a popular tourist destination which closed temporarily earlier this week as a precaution. Grindavik is also near the Svartsengi geothermal plant, the main supplier of electricity and water to 30,000 residents on the Reykjanes peninsula. Iceland has 33 active volcanic systems, the highest number in Europe.

The Icelandic Met Office had initially said an eruption would most likely take place “in several days rather than hours,” as magma had been observed accumulating under the Earth’s surface at a depth of about five kilometres for several days. “Earthquakes can become larger than those that have occurred and this series of events could lead to an eruption,” the administration warned.

But late Friday it noted that seismic activity was moving closer to the surface and magma was beginning to rise vertically toward the Earth’s crust between Sundhnjukagigar and Grindavik — suggesting an eruption could come sooner. Authorities decided to evacuate Grindavik after the Met Office said there was a “likelihood that a magma intrusion has extended beneath Grindavik.”

“At this stage, it is not possible to determine exactly whether and where magma might reach the surface,” it said. However, it noted that “the amount of magma involved is significantly more than what was observed in the largest magma intrusions associated with the eruptions at Fagradalsfjall”.

Three eruptions have taken place near Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes peninsula, in March 2021, August 2022 and July 2023 — all far from any infrastructure or populated areas. The Met Office said 500 earthquakes had been registered in the area between 1800 GMT Friday and 0600 GMT Saturday, including 14 over a magnitude of 4.0. Iceland straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack in the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.

Around 1730 GMT, two strong earthquakes were felt as far away as the capital Reykjavik and along much of the country’s southern coast, rattling windows and household objects. According to preliminary IMO figures, the biggest tremor had a magnitude of 5.2, north of Grindavik.

Police closed a road running north-south to Grindavik on Friday after it was damaged by the tremors. Some 24,000 tremors have been registered on the peninsula since late October, according to the IMO, with “a dense swarm” of nearly 500 quakes registered between midnight and 1400 GMT Friday.

Emergency shelters and help centres were to open in Grindavik as well as three other locations in southern Iceland, for information purposes and to assist people on the move. On Thursday the Blue Lagoon tourist destination located near Grindavik famed for its geothermal spas and luxury hotels, closed as a precaution following another earthquake swarm.

Also nearby is the Svartsengi geothermal plant, the main supplier of electricity and water to 30,000 residents on the Reykjanes peninsula. It has contingency plans in place to protect the plant and its workers in the event of an eruption.

Prior to the March 2021 eruption in an uninhabited area around Mount Fagradalsfjall, the Reykjanes volcanic system had remained dormant for eight centuries. Volcanologists believe the new cycle of increased activity could last for several decades or centuries. An April 2010 massive eruption at another Iceland volcano, the Eyjafjallajokull in the south of the island, had forced the cancellation of some 100,000 flights, leaving more than 10 million travellers stranded.