The eruption came after a series of earthquakes near the town of Grindavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. “Lava is flowing a few hundred metres north of the town – this is 400 to 500 metres,” Kristin Jonsdottir, from the Icelandic Meteorological Office, told Iceland’s RUV television. In the weeks since, defensive walls had been placed around the volcano in hopes of directing the magma away from the community. But the walls of the barriers built north of Grindavik have been breached and lava is on the move towards the community, the meteorological office said. People watch from the north as the volcano erupts near Grindavík (Marco Di Marco/AP)Iceland, which sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic, averages an eruption every four to five years.

Source: The Times January 14, 2024 13:55 UTC