Iceland’s prime minister has sought to reassure the nation as it braces for a volcanic eruption and the Reykjanes peninsula continues to be hit by hundreds of earthquakes.
Between midnight and early afternoon on Monday, the Icelandic meteorological office detected about 900 earthquakes as seismic activity between Sundhnúkur and Grindavík in south-west Iceland continued near the capital, Reykjavik. In recent days, a magma tunnel has formed under the peninsula, stretching out into the sea.
It comes after thousands of earthquakes have been recorded in recent days, amid warnings of the significant likelihood of the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupting within days.
Lying between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates – which move in opposite directions – Iceland is a global hotspot for seismic and volcanic activity.
Although the size and intensity of the activity was decreasing, the met office said the volcanic hazard assessment remained unchanged, with the country in a state of emergency.
Huge queues, several kilometres long, formed as residents of the fishing town were briefly allowed to return to their homes to collect necessities and belongings. The town of almost 4,000 people has already suffered extensive damage, including large cracks that have formed in the ground.
In a speech in the Icelandic parliament, Katrín Jakobsdóttir said Friday’s evacuation of the town was done “with the safety of the residents in mind” but shared her sympathy with those forced to leave their homes.
“As we can all imagine, it is a huge decision to ask people to leave their homes at short notice. We all feel how heavy this uncertainty rests on them,” she added. “Efforts are being made to create a space so that residents can pick up the most necessary items in the building, but always with people’s safety as a priority.”
Advocating for a bill on the protection of important infrastructure in the peninsula to protect from impending natural hazards, she said: “There are broad powers in the civil defence act to take action after a danger or emergency level has been declared, but there is much less scope for taking preventive action at earlier stages.”
The bill includes a proposed fee on fire-insured homes for three years to cover the costs of preventive works.
A met office spokesperson said all monitoring systems were being watched closely “in real-time, especially near Grindavík, for any indications of sudden change”.
They added: “The natural hazards monitoring team at IMO is operating at maximum surveillance while the department of civil protection and emergency management coordinates short-term, temporary access to Grindavík today, 13 November.”
In the past three years, there have been three eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula near the Fagradalsfjall volcano, the most recent of which was in July 2023. But all previous eruptions have been away from infrastructure or populated areas. Before the first eruption – in 2021 – the peninsula had been dormant for eight centuries.
