I've been keeping an eye on this story while dealing with Ebola, but now it's getting serious. Via The Reykjavik Grapevine: Area North Of Bárðarbunga Volcano Evacuated. Excerpt:
An evacuation order went into effect yesterday in the area north of Vatnajökull glacier, in light of ongoing earthquake activity around the Bárðarbunga volcano, reports RÚV.
According to Víðir Reynisson, department manager of Iceland’s Civil Protection and Emergency Management, the evacuation has been a success though he could not be sure that some had not been left behind.
“The evacuation has gone well so far,” Víðir told RÚV last night. “We don’t expect the evacuation to be finished until maybe 3 am… This sort of thing just takes time. There are bad roads and such. What will happen next is that the Icelandic Coast Guard will fly a plane over the area tomorrow to check if anyone’s left. We can’t account for hikers and so on, that could be traveling out there, so we are going to search the area with the help of the Coast Guard and hopefully after that we can be quite sure the area is cleared.”
Since midnight last night, a further 250 earthquakes have been reported around Bárðarbunga volcano.
As a precautionary measure in the event of eruption a number of areas north of the volcano are now off limits; cabins by Kverkfjöll and in Dreki by popular tourist attraction Askja, Hvannalindir and parts of Vatnajökull National Park.
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As reported, the earthquake swarm around the volcano, located in the northwestern part of the glacier, has put the world on high alert as Bárðarbunga is one of Iceland’s most dangerous volcanoes. The activity means that Bárðarbunga volcano has been classified as Code Orange by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) colour system.
Three weeks from now my wife and I will be en route to Helsinki and Stockholm, and plate tectonics could complicate our travels. Just as long as we're not diverted from Schiphol to dreaded Heathrow...also known as Mordor International Airport.
