"The earth could literally swallow you"

The existence of the residents of Grindavík has been turned upside down after an earthquake and a volcanic eruption. The couple Guðrún Jóna Magnúsdóttir and Óli Björn Björgvinsson recount the events of the last few weeks and predict the future.

Guðrún Jóna and Óli Björn began their journey together in 1988 in Grindavík, but Óli is a born and bred “Grindvíkingur”, and was literally born in a home on the street in town. They have, like other residents of Grindavík, had to leave their home and town they have called a home for 35 years and now live in a basement apartment in Arnarnes, which their acquaintance graciously lent to them.

Óli, who is captain of the ship Sighvatur GK57, was on a short stop in Iceland and a journalist took the opportunity to meet the couple.

Guðrún Jóna is an education counsellor but she has been on a sabbatical, which she says is a good thing now in these uncertain times. They are still digesting this new reality and their life is on hold. Today they don’t know if they will ever go back home to Grindavík, even though hope is still there.

The road rolled up in waves

November 10,  2023 is a date that will forever be carved into the memory of  residents of Grindavík.

“Óli was out at sea and our little granddaughter Birna Brá was celebrating her birthday in Njarðvík on Friday at five o’clock, so I had made soup for 25 people earlier that day. Then I’m in the bathroom getting ready about three o’clock when my brother rings me up for a video call. He says to me, “You’re shaking and shaking!” I tell him, “It’s just a little shake,” but when I got to Njarðvík I found even more shakes. My youngest daughter was in Grindavík for a sport’s training session, but she calls and says that the training session has been cancelled because everything is shaking in Grindavík,” Guðrún says, “and she decided to drive home. On the way she found something strange driving and even thought that a tire was coming off the car.

“Then the road was just rolling up in waves! A few cars before me was a car travelling at 30 kilometres, and I thought there were some foreigners moving very slow, but then this car had gotten into a situation where most of the tarmac had rolled up in front of them. I just got into town before the road was closed. The road just got cut in half, the other lane, but I managed to shoot past it,” she says.

Just took my duvet

Guðrún tells them that in spite of having gotten quite used to earthquakes after all the earthquakes of recent years, this time felt different.

“One talks about earthquakes, but what was going on that Friday was different. I wasn’t afraid, but I was shocked,” she says.

“I actually only took my duvet that day, but we got to go home on Monday to get more stuff,” she says, and says that when Óli arrived, he was allowed to go on Wednesday with a rescue team to get more.

On this Friday night of the tenth of November, all the residents of Grindavík were then ordered to evacuate the town, and Guðrún says that she was not surprised.

“It was the right decision. The earth could literally swallow you,” she says.

“There were a lot of people already gone, on quake vacation,” says Óli, “and people were coming back home in a few days.

“People had had enough of these scares of shaking,” Guðrún says.

New fissures

As everyone remembers, the eruption began on Sunday morning, January 14th, right by the town hall in Grindavík.

“We had been waiting for this to happen and now we are still waiting for something more to happen. There’s always this wait and uncertainty,” Guðrún says.

“We knew it was going to erupt, but maybe not where and when and how big. Then the eruption comes up just north of the defense walls and a little bit inside them, but the walls still proved their value. Otherwise, lava would have covered much larger parts of the town,” says Óli.

“We sat glued to the TV for ten, twelve hours watching it live,” says Óli.

“We were shocked at noon when we saw the new fissure open up,” he says, “but it was just from that fissure that lava came flowing over three houses.

“We didn’t know whether there would be more fissures,” Guðrún says.

Where do we want to be?

The future is uncertain for the couple, as for other residents of Grindavík. As it is, they are grateful that they have been able to get a small apartment and that all their people are safe. The disaster has taken on a mental toll, but Guðrún hasn't been working this winter because of a study leave.

“Your head isn’t right,” she says about going through this experience, and the two agree that the days are different. Sometimes they’re overwhelmed with depression and anxiety.

“Some days you’re quite heavy. There’s all this uncertainty. You don’t know anything!” Óli says.

“We are now trying to figure out where we want to live. Where do we want to be?” Guðrún asks.

“We’re both sure that we know that we’re not going to Grindavík in the near future. Hopefully, we’ll be able to return home someday, but that’s not in the next few years. That is just how it is.”

Gudrún and Óli were interviewed in detail by Ásdís Ásgeirsdóttir in the Sunday edition of Morgunblaðið this weekend.

Translation Dóra Ósk Halldórsdóttir doraosk@mbl.is