Thousands of earthquakes have been occurring for days on the Reykjanes peninsula, southeast of the island. The highest magnitudes were measured in Grindavík, about 60 km south of the capital Reykjavik. Civil protection is working to secure the area and ordered the evacuation of the city during the night, under which there is a tunnel made of volcanic material that poses a risk of explosion
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Strong earthquakes and risk of volcanic eruption. Icelandic Civil Protection raised the alarm on the Reykjanes peninsula, southeast of Iceland, and to ensure the safety of citizens, the entire affected area was evacuated overnight.
In particular, Icelandic Civil Protection ordered the evacuation of Grindavík, a town of 3,500 inhabitants on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 60 kilometers from Reykjavik, due to the risk of a volcanic eruption linked to the strong earthquakes recorded yesterday. At 11 p.m. local time (midnight Italian time), the National Weather Service updated the forecast and no longer ruled out the possibility that lava could hit the city in the event of an eruption. Roads in the area were closed to traffic and the Blue Lagoon, a well-known tourist attraction, announced it would remain closed for a week. The US Geophysical Institute (USGS) reports on its website that twelve tremors were recorded yesterday, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 5.9. There are currently no reports of disruptions at Keflavík International Airport, which is located 23 kilometers from the city center.
Intense seismic swarm: over 20,000 tremors in a few days
According to Icelandic public broadcaster Ruv, there is strong seismic activity and in Grindavík the earthquakes were so strong that it was difficult to endure them. The powerful seismic swarm that has hit the area since late October has now exceeded 20,000 tremors in magnitude. The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said it feared large amounts of magma could spread underground and escape because “significant changes in seismic activity have been recorded.” In particular, he warned that “a magma tunnel is currently forming that could reach Grindavík.” The IMO called on the population to “remain calm” and stressed that “there is no immediate and imminent danger, the evacuation is mainly preventive in nature and its main objective is the safety of all residents of Grindavík.” There are about thirty active volcanoes in Iceland.
Volcanic eruption warning
With earthquakes of this magnitude there is a risk of a possible volcanic eruption. Civil protection is working to secure the city and the power plant by erecting barriers between six and eight meters high and four kilometers long. “Disaster management has created a model based on the point at which the magma is most likely to emerge,” the organization said. “However, the model does not suggest that the lava will flow towards Grindavík.” Nevertheless, many Grindavík residents choose to flee and the Blue Lagoon, a well-known tourist attraction in the area, remains closed for a week for safety reasons.
News from an Italian living in Iceland
Also reporting on what is happening on the Reykjanes Peninsula is “An Italian in Iceland”, Roberto Luigi Pagani, an Italian travel guide and author who has lived in Iceland for almost 10 years and talks about the North Island through books and his social channels. “3/4000 people have started evacuating Grindavík,” he wrote on his Facebook page around midnight in Italy. “Civil protection was alerted because the earthquakes were moving directly under the city.” Shortly after 11 a.m. (Italian time), Pagani posted an update on Instagram about the events on the Icelandic peninsula. “The situation did not improve during the night,” we read in the article, “the lava flows along a line in a southwesterly direction and passes under the town of Grindavík (approx. 3700 inhabitants), which was completely evacuated during the night,” reaching of the ocean. If an eruption occurs in the sea, we would witness a violent eruption, with explosions due to the interaction of lava with water and a lot of ash.”
THE earthquake Because of their unpredictability and potential catastrophic effects, they are among the natural events that humans fear most. The current system for calculating the magnitude of an earthquake is the scale Judge, introduced in the 1930s. But seismographs, even in rudimentary form, have been around for centuries and it is therefore possible to approximately estimate the strength of past earthquakes. Here are the worst
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VALDIVIA EARTHQUAKE – On May 22, 1960, the “Great Chile Earthquake” was registered, with a magnitude of 9.5, the strongest ever recorded. It was felt in several parts of the world and caused a tsunami with waves up to 25 meters high that reached the Asian coasts. This also caused volcanic activity to resume in Puyehue. The low population density caused a relatively small number of casualties, around 3,000
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ALASKA EARTHQUAKE – On March 27, 1964 (3 a.m. March 28 UTC time), Alaska was struck by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in Prince William Sound. In Anchorage, buildings collapsed and cracks appeared in the streets. A tsunami with 30-meter waves was also generated. There were 143 victims and estimated damage was around $2.5 billion
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