2023-11-10 23:20:01
Las Icelandic authorities declared a state of emergency today after several earthquakes on the Reykjanes peninsula, in the southwest of the country, which raise fears of an evolcanic eruption in the region.
«The head of the national police declares a state of emergency for civil defense due to the intense seismic activity in Sundhnjukagigar, north of Grindavik«, announced the department of civil protection and emergencies in a statement.
“Earthquakes may become more important”
“Earthquakes may become more important” and “this series of events could cause an eruption,” the administration warned and according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), the eruption could take place “within a few days.”
In that sense, Evacuation plans were put in place for the town of Grindavik, which has about four thousand inhabitants, located three kilometers southwest of the area where the earthquakes were recorded, the AFP agency said.
The Department of Civil Protection also announced the dispatch of the Thor patrol boat to Grindavik “for security reasons.”
On Thursday, the Blue Lagoon, a tourist site near Grindavik famous for its geothermal spas, It had already been closed as a precaution.
Two earthquakes were felt as far as the capital Reykjavík
Around 5:30 p.m. local (2:30 p.m. Argentina) two earthquakesthe strongest of which with a magnitude of 5.2, according to the first assessments of the IMO, they felt all the way to the capital Reykjavíkabout 40 kilometers away, and largely on the southern coast of the country.
Some 24,000 tremors have been recorded on the peninsula since the end of October, according to the IMO, with almost 800 earthquakes recorded between midnight and 2 p.m. (11 a.m. in Argentina) on Friday.
Since 2021, three eruptions have occurred on the Reykjanes Peninsulain March 2021, August 2022 and July 2023, all far from infrastructure or populated areas.
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