Iceland called for a state of emergency on Monday after registering nearly 1,000 earthquakes in just 12 hours on Sunday, as well as more than 2,000 seismic episodes in the last 48 hours, according to the country's Meteorological Office.
This seismic movement is accompanied by the possible eruption of the Fagradaslfjall volcano. This caused the evacuation of nearly 4,000 people from the city of Grindavík, 25 miles from the Icelandic capital. Icelandic Foreign Minister Bjarni Benediktsson assured on X profile (formerly Twitter) that the eviction of the small coastal town was over and that "thankfully everyone is safe":
Icelandic Civil Protection authorities have declared a state of emergency following increased seismic activity in Reykjanes Peninsula. As a precautionary measure the town of Grindavík (population 3669) was successfully evacuated last night and thankfully everyone is safe.
— Bjarni Benediktsson (@Bjarni_Ben) November 11, 2023
Progressive increase in seismic activity in Iceland
Seismic activity has been increasing progressively since the end of October. In total, nearly 20,000 earthquakes were recorded by the Icelandic Meteorological Office. However, what was worrying was that they had detected a underground magma formation. This phenomenon, the institution explained, could mean that the volcano would soon erupt: "This can be an indication that magma is moving closer to the surface, new models will be run as soon as new data comes in to update the model."
Given the increase in earthquakes, tourist places such as the Blue Lagoon decided, as a precaution, to close their doors since currently "it is not possible to determine when or where an eruption might occur." As highlighted on the site's website, the place will remain closed until 7 a.m. local time on Nov. 16, "at which point the situation will be reassessed."
