Living in a country that straddles two tectonic plates and has 130 or so volcanoes, Icelanders are no strangers to earthquakes and eruptions.
But a lava stream that flowed into the southwestern town of Grindavik on Sunday, burning three homes — the first time in about 50 years that a residential area had been affected — was further proof that a threatening new phase of seismic activity had started in the area, according to Iceland’s president.
“A daunting period of upheaval has begun on the Reykjanes Peninsula,” the president, Gudni Johannesson, said in a televised address on Sunday night, referring to the area that includes Grindavik. “What we all hoped would not happen has come to pass.”
Since 2020, scientists have seen signs of increased volcanic activity on the Reykjanes Peninsula, which had been dormant for 800 years, and they have detected tens of thousands of earthquakes in recent months. In response to a potential eruption, Iceland has built defensive barriers around a geothermal power plant, which supplies hot water to the area, and around other potentially vulnerable sites nearby.
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