A lot of damage in Grindavík

A lot of damage can be seen around Grindavík after the earthquakes and the formation of a deformation that is moving downwards towards the magma intrusion that is underneath the ground. This depression formation is now estimated to be over 1.2 meters in the northwest end of Grindavík.

A fissure passes through a large part of the town and passes through the road to the sports center. A hot water pipe has been broken in the earthquakes and the sports center seems to be sitting on a meter high pedestal.

A journalist and a photographer from mbl.is have been travelling around the town today looking at the situation and the damage in town.

As can be seen in these two pictures from the sports center, the power of the earthquakes has been substantial. The faulting is up to one meter and it is like the pavement at the front has been severed from the building.

A short distance from the sports center, a huge fissure can be seen through the road, and a more than meter-long opening stretches through a part of the town. It has, among other things, at one point broken a hot water pipe and hot air is steaming out of the fissure.

The grass is soft and yielding widely close to cracks when walking on it, indicating that there is a widespread lack of soil under the grass. Thus, a rescuer found himself stepping with one foot in one place through grass without being harmed. A journalist at mbl.is has therefore been directed to stay on the tarmac because of this weakness in the soil.

Today, residents have been allowed into town to retrieve the main necessities and valuable property. They have only a short time to do so. Initially, residents were required to accompany the rescue teams, but as the day went on, it was decided that people could enter in their own cars. However, there are security posts around town where rescue teams are located, pushing people. People had been made aware that they were only expected to be in their home for 5-7 minutes.

Damages are visible on many houses, especially cracks in the concrete, but our journalist from mbl.is could not see any building that could be written off as completely ruined.