No other country than Iceland is better prepared for volcanos and other natural disasters, its prime minister said Saturday, as authorities brace for a potential lava eruption southwest of the capital Reykjavik.
The roughly 4,000 residents of Grindavik, a fishing port around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital, were evacuated on November 11 after magma shifting under the Earth’s crust caused hundreds of earthquakes — a warning of a likely volcanic eruption.
Thousands of smaller tremors have since shaken the area along the Reykjanes peninsula, with several homes and other structures suffering severe damage.
“No country is better prepared for natural disasters than Iceland,” Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said at a press conference.
“We have long experience in dealing with volcanic eruptions. We know that it’s not necessarily a sound decision to build for example defence mechanisms when you have such a great uncertainty where an eruption can come up,” she said.
The Reykjanes peninsula had not experienced an eruption for eight centuries until 2021.
Since then, three eruptions have struck — all in remote uninhabited areas — and volcanologists say…
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