Iceland Braces for Impending Volcanic Eruption: Uncertainty and Fear Grip Evacuated Residents

Iceland is preparing for a major volcanic eruption that could happen within hours or days. There are several scenarios. The situation on the Reykjanes peninsula calmed down somewhat on Monday night. The roughly 300 earthquakes since midnight had a magnitude of less than 3.0, making them smaller than the previous tremors. Nevertheless, the evacuated people fear for their homes.

The worst thing is the uncertainty because you don’t know what will happen, says Viktor Bulka, who lives in Grindavik. “Last year we bought a house here. We invested everything we had and sold our old house in Poland. We wanted to start a new life here. We have a high mortgage and don’t know if the banks will help us or support us in any way,” says Mateusz Droszkowski.

The earthquakes have already affected operations in the port city. Over the weekend, the Icelandic Road Authority closed all roads in and around the city that already had large cracks.

Experts suspect that magma has already seeped beneath the city of Grindavík and fear that it will be destroyed by the volcanic eruption. Grindavík was evacuated on Friday in what could be the most destructive volcanic eruption in half a century.