"Worried about the situation"

Víðir Reynisson, Director of Civil Protection, says that people are of course worried about the situation on the Reykjanes peninsula. There are strong indications that another eruption might be on the horizon.

“We are of course worried about the situation. There is a measurable difference in the speed of the land rise in the last few days and it does not seem to be decreasing. We have a long way to go before the defensive walls at Grindavík are ready for some serious effort,” Reynisson tells us.

Walls in half the optimal height

He says that part of the defensive wall that is being worked on now will help a little, but will not be able to withstand the powerful lava flow.

Two parts of the Grindavík defensive wall are being installed, which will be fully constructed in eight parts. The parts that now rise will be in half height.

“It was important to start making the defence walls and use the time to prepare the rest of the project. We are fully looking into the locations more closely so we can make a proposal with a good cost estimate in the rest of the project, which will be shorter than we would expect,” says Reynisson.

Not excluding eruptions in Grindavík and at Svartsengi

Most of our leading scientists seem to be expecting an eruption to happen?

“We’ve been sitting for two hours and reviewing the situation with a fairly large group, and we’re also looking at the long term. You can expect this kind of scenario again and again. The earth’s current situation tells us that this may re-emerge with some intervals or last quite a while,” he says.

Reynisson says that while it is most likely that the Sundhnúkargígar crater row will erupt, scientists do not want to exclude that an eruption could occur inside both Grindavík and Svartsengi.

“We’re preparing as much as possible and our whole system is working,” he concludes.