Iceland’s president has commented that the country is facing significant natural disturbances as molten lava from a volcano in the island’s southwest destroyed several houses in the evacuated town of Grindavik. President Gudni Thorlacius Johannesson stated in a televised address on Sunday that a challenging period of upheaval has commenced on the Reykjanes Peninsula, where a long-dormant volcanic system has become active once again.
The volcano on the peninsula erupted for the second time in less than a month on Sunday morning, prompting authorities to order residents to evacuate the fishing town of Grindavik due to a series of small earthquakes indicating an imminent eruption. Geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson reported on Monday morning that the eruption had significantly decreased overnight, but its duration remained uncertain.
Grindavik, a town of 3,800 people about 50km southwest of Reykjavik, was previously evacuated in November when the Svartsengi volcanic system became active after almost 800 years of dormancy. Emergency workers have since built defensive walls to redirect the lava away from the town.
Although there have been no confirmed deaths due to the eruptions, a worker is missing after reportedly falling into a crack caused by the volcano. Iceland, situated on a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic, experiences an eruption roughly every four to five years. The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which released ash into the atmosphere and disrupted air travel for months.
The latest eruption is not anticipated to release significant amounts of ash into the air, and operations at Keflavik Airport are continuing as usual, according to Gudjon Helgason, spokesman for airport operator Isavia.