00:00 Roads have begun to crack and buildings buckle under the pressure of underground magma as
00:06 Iceland prepares for a possible volcanic eruption.
00:10 Nine hundred earthquakes hit the south of the country on Monday, with tens of thousands
00:15 of tremors reported in the region of Reykjanes in recent weeks.
00:20 Scientists began to worry as lava started to head to the surface, as Matthew James Roberts
00:25 from the Icelandic Meteorological Office explains.
00:29 This intrusion was 15 kilometres long and to begin with there were thousands of cubic
00:34 metres per second of molten rock magma coursing into this intrusion.
00:40 This intrusion now sits just below the earth's surface, so a molten sheet of magma over a
00:46 distance of 15 kilometres and in fact stretches through and beneath the coastal town of Grindervik.
00:53 All 3,800 residents of the town were evacuated from their homes over the weekend.
00:58 Most have been able to find accommodation with friends and family, with only 50 to 70
01:03 in evacuation centres.
01:05 Local Hans Vera says they are used to earthquakes but not like this.
01:09 It was always shaking, so there was no way to get sleep or nothing.
01:14 So we were a little bit like, this is not normal anymore.
01:18 Evacuees were able to return home briefly to retrieve belongings, but only via an escort.
01:22 Huge cars from the rescue team, 20 policemen, all blinking lights, it's just unreal.
01:31 It's like a war zone or something, it's really strange.
01:34 Authorities fear the underground magma will pierce the earth's surface and potentially
01:39 hit the coastal town and a geothermal power station.
01:43 And the major worry from a hazard and risk perspective is that the magma could come to
01:48 the surface and produce a fissure eruption, a Hawaiian-style lava-producing volcanic eruption,
01:54 and this could produce fissures over a long length.
01:58 The Reykjanes Peninsula is a volcanic and seismic hotspot, with volcanic activity occurring
02:03 as recently as July.
02:05 In March 2021, lava fountains erupted spectacularly from a fissure in the ground over 2,000 feet
02:12 long.
02:13 We have this tremendous uncertainty now, will there be an eruption, and if so, what sort
02:17 of damage will occur.
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