Iceland earthquakes – live: Emergency declared as thousands told to evacuate over volcanic eruption fears

Shortly before 1am, a magnitude 4.8 quake, the strongest to hit the region since the recent wave of seismic activity began last month, hit the country’s most populous region.

Guests woken up by the quake rushed to leave the hotels at the Blue Lagoon spa.

At one hotel, where lava rocks had fallen on the road and the car park was jammed with 20 to 30 taxis, driver Bjarni Stefansson described a scene of confusion.

“There was a panic situation,” Mr Stefansson said. “People thought a volcanic eruption was about to happen.”

Iceland’s famous Blue Lagoon spa has temporarily shut down, one week after a series of earthquakes led guests to vacate the hotel.

The Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa southwest of Reykjavík, will reportedly be closed until 16 November due to a series of earthquakes that hit the region after midnight on 2 November.

In a statement posted to its website, the spa explained: “The primary reason for taking these precautionary measures is our unwavering commitment to safety and wellbeing. We aim to mitigate any disruption to our guests’ experiences and alleviate the sustained pressure on our employees.”

Nearly 24,000 tremors have been registered on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwestern Iceland since late October, the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) said.

.A “dense swarm” of nearly 800 quakes were registered between midnight and 2pm GMT on Friday, which has raised fears of a volcanic eruption.

The met office noted an accumulation of magma underground at a depth of about 5km.“The most likely scenario is that it will take several days rather than hours for magma to reach the surface,” it said.

“If a fissure were to appear where the seismic activity is at its highest now, lava would flow to the southeast and to the west, but not towards Grindavik.”

Foreign Office advice is regarded by the UK travel industry as the arbiter of whether or not a destination is safe.

Were the FCDO to warn against travel to parts of Iceland, holidaymakers already there would be moved and no further departures would operate to those areas.

The Foreign Office last updated its travel advice on Tuesday 7 November. At the time, the FCDO warned: “Earthquake and indications of volcanic activity have increased above normal levels on the Rekjanes peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik.

“The Icelandic authorities continue to monitor the area closely, particularly the area northwest of Mt Thorbjörn near the Svartsengi power plant and the Blue Lagoon.

“Although there is no current eruption, it is possible that one could occur. You should monitor local media for updates and follow the authorities advice on travel to the area.”

Icelandic authorities have ordered thousands of people living in the town of Grindavik to evacuate as a precaution due to fears of a volcanic eruption.

Iceland’s National Police Commissioner declared a state of emergency for civil defence after 1,485 earthquakes hit the country in the last 48 hours.

The country’s Civil Protection Agency told residents to leave the town, while urging them to “remain calm” as it was not an “emergency evacuation”.

“There is no immediate danger imminent, the evacuation is primarily preventive with the safety of all Grindavik residents as the principal aim,” it said.

The village of Grindavik is home to about 4,000 people and is located 3km south-west of the area where Friday’s earthquake swarm was registered.

All the roads into the town, except for emergencies, have been shut.

Iceland, which sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic, averages an eruption every four to five years.

The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed so much ash into the atmosphere that airspaces over Europe were closed.

Actually, on average, Iceland experiences around 500 earthquakes a week, or about 26000 every year.

Iceland’s National broadcaster RÚV reports that trucks are on site to build defences around a power plant near the town of Grindavík.

They report that defences will be 4 km long and six to eight metres tall, according to the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management.

A road between Grindavik and Reykjanesbraut in Iceland has been closed by the police due to damage.

Dramatic pictures show a large crack in the road following earthquakes in the area in recent days.

This video is from a home in Grindavík , the city closest to the intense seismic activity underway in Iceland at the moment.

Iceland’s National Police Commissioner has said there is the “greatest likelihood” that lava will emerge at the Sundhnúkar crater.

They said in a social media update: “Very clear signs now appear on the Meteorological Agency’s meter about the formation of mercury to the surface.

“Onward there is the greatest likelihood that a lava will emerge north of the water reservoir at Sundhnúkar and therefore lava will not flow to Grindavík in accordance with the lava flow that was driven earlier tonight.

“More information is not available at the moment but will be updated as it is available.”