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Iceland is preparing for a possible volcanic eruption. Excavators and dump trucks are in use in the fishing village of Grindavík. They are intended to help build protective walls against possible lava flows and thus protect safe infrastructure – just in case.
Weeks ago, there were numerous earthquakes in the southwest of the country, and the earth has been rumbling ever since. The fishing village of Grindavík, about 40 kilometres as the crow flies from the capital Reykjavík, is particularly at risk. Under Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula, an approximately 15-kilometre-long magma fissure runs from northeast to southwest into the sea. And since the earthquakes, huge cracks have run through the town. This makes the situation dangerous.
Kristín Jónsdóttir, Icelandic Meteorological Agency:
"When lava flows into this fissure, it makes it -- likely to reach the surface, and then there is an eruption. If the lava stops, it can stagnate within the crack and there will be no eruption."
Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister of Iceland:
"As always, we can't say with the best will in the world where an outbreak would start, but we consider it more likely that an eruption will occur than that it won't."
The place was evacuated, about 4000 people had to leave their homes. Grindavík now lies largely abandoned. Only search and rescue teams are on the road, rescuing belongings from homes and businesses or investigating damage.
In addition, the construction workers are there: they are supposed to erect protective walls – and thus divert the lava in case of an eruption. This is primarily intended to protect the geothermal power plant. It is located a good six kilometres from Grindavík and provides a large part of the energy for the region.
Whether these measures will be necessary in the end remains uncertain. And so, in and around Grindavik, there is still a great deal of uncertainty.