Following 800 earthquakes in 14 hours, Iceland declares a State of Emergency

Iceland declared a state of emergency on Friday following a series of violent earthquakes that rocked the country’s southwestern Reykjanes peninsula, perhaps signaling the start of a volcanic eruption.

“The National Police Chief… declares a state of emergency for civil defence due to the intense earthquake (activity) at Sundhnjukagigar, north of Grindavik”, said the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management in a statement.

“Earthquakes can become larger than those that have occurred and this series of events could lead to an eruption”, the statement reads.

The Icelandic Met Office (IMO) predicted an eruption within a few days.

Grindavik, a community of around 4,000 inhabitants, is about three kilometers (1.86 miles) southwest of the location of Friday’s earthquake swarm.

In the event of an eruption, it has evacuation measures in place.

Around 1730 GMT, two powerful earthquakes were felt as far away as Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, and along much of the country’s southern coast, rattling windows and household goods.

The largest tremor, north of Grindavik, had a magnitude of 5.2, according to preliminary IMO statistics.

On Friday, police closed a route leading north-south to Grindavik after it was damaged by the shocks.

According to the IMO, 24,000 earthquakes have been recorded on the peninsula since late October, with a dense swarm of over 800 quakes recorded between midnight and 1400 GMT Friday.

The IMO discovered a magma deposit below at a depth of roughly five kilometers (3.1 miles). If it begins to move towards the surface, it could cause a volcanic eruption.

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