Neyðarkall björgunarsveitanna

Emergency call - the rescue team's keyring

It's that special time of year again - the rescue workers' annual fundraising campaign here in Iceland is underway!

From October 30th to November 3rd, 2024, the rescue workers' volunteers will be back in the country's shopping centers and supermarkets and will be selling the "neyðarkall", the rescue workers' annual keyring.

The small figure costs 3,500 ISK, the equivalent of a good €23.

The proceeds from the sale go to the various departments of the rescue teams and are used to finance their work. By purchasing the key fobs you support the work of the thousands of volunteers who rely on these donations for their training, further education and the purchase and maintenance of their equipment including tools, vehicles and devices.

Landsbjörg / ICE-SAR

The first search and rescue team in Iceland was founded in 1918 in the Westman Islands, as accidents at sea and off the coast of Iceland were common. Since then, numerous Icelandic rescue teams have been deployed voluntarily , ensuring the safety of the population and visitors.

In its current form, Slysavarnafélagið Landsbjör g, the Icelandic rescue organization for air, land and water rescue , was created in October 1999 from the merger of the sea rescue team founded in 1928 and the land rescue teams. It is a voluntary organization with approximately 18,000 members .

These people are voluntarily on call day and night all year round to prevent accidents in an emergency and to save lives and ultimately property.

The association's patron is the President of Iceland .

Iceland lives with natural hazards of various kinds, so it is essential that every village and town has a team of volunteers . According to the association, there are currently 93 rescue teams , 37 accident prevention departments and 48 youth departments in Iceland, which form a close-knit network throughout the country and provide voluntary help in the event of an emergency.

Financing the work

The member units are financially independent. They consist of volunteers who take on important tasks for the community. They rescue stranded hikers in the mountains, fly accident victims to the hospital, take care of travelers who are stranded in bad weather, pull cars out of the water and are always available when help is needed. The helpers work on a voluntary and unpaid basis and rely on donations .

Landsbjörg's financing comes, among other things, from the sale of fireworks (flugeldasala). Here in Iceland, Landsbjörg has the monopoly on the sale of rockets, firecrackers, batteries and everything else you need for a proper fireworks display - and there are also safety precautions and tips. After all, it is also Landbjörg who respond to accidents involving fireworks. If you don't want to buy fireworks but still want to support the rescue workers, you can also symbolically buy a seedling , which will then actually be planted by volunteers as part of the country's reforestation.

Neyðarkall - emergency call from rescue teams

Another fundraising campaign is the sale of keyrings. Since 2006, the rescue teams have been selling their keyring - their "neyðarkall" (= "emergency call") every year in a special campaign to finance their work.

Each year there is a different keychain, each with a specific outfit and equipment. Over time, the little figure already carried, among other things, mountain rescue equipment, sea rescue equipment, there was also a dog handler for rescue dogs, a specialist for rescue from wreckage, a rescue diver, a medical first aider, someone who rescues missing people with a snowmobile or searches for them with a drone, and there has also been a historical rescuer with equipment “from the past”.

As emergency services say in statements about this year's campaign, the people of Iceland have been reminded in recent years that they live in a harsh country. There were violent earthquakes, especially in Grindavík, the volcanic eruptions on Reykjanes, but also the collapse of a glacier cave and many other operations. Therefore, this year 2024, the small figure on the rescue teams' "emergency call" keychain is a "hamfarasérfræðingur", i.e. an expert in disaster control.

On Thursday while shopping in Skeifan I saw a volunteer selling the keychains at the front of Hagkaup. And after my shopping I took one of the little guys with me. Sure, 3,500 ISK for a keyring is a lot of money, but ultimately it's about financing all the volunteer rescue teams who work voluntarily and tirelessly here on Iceland. And 3,500 ISK really isn't much...

Grikk eða gott

Trick or treat

The Icelandic word for Halloween is “hrekkjavaka”, which literally translates to the “night watch in which you play tricks on somebody” or perhaps simply the “night watch of pranks”.

In recent years, it has also become more common in Iceland to decorate houses with glowing pumpkins, skeletons and witch folk and to celebrate spooky parties at the end of October. However, I have the feeling that children, teenagers and young adults are more likely to celebrate there. On social media I see a lot of photos of beautiful costumes worn by Icelandic friends or people who live here. I haven't noticed any excessively decorated houses yet.

The call for the children who go around collecting sweetsis "grikk eða gott", i.e. "trick or treat".

There are also Halloween decorations in stores. For example, here at Krónan three witches have taken over the action area in front of the fruit and vegetable department.

And the town center of Selfoss is always decorated to match the season, two years ago there was a poor old skeleton and a few big, scary spiders.

Personally, I like the Halloween decorations at the hardware store much better: just a small artificial Christmas tree decorated with an orange garland, a chain with grinning, glowing pumpkins and a chain with illuminated eyeballs. I find that much cuddlier!

And in the background all the Christmas decorations have already broken out...

To be honest - I'm looking forward to unpacking the Christmas decorations again after October 31st and making our Iceland house a little more Christmassy...

Bleiki dagurinn 2024

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Every year, this international health campaign runs under the motto “bleikur október”, with its climax on the “pink day”, the “bleiki dagurinn”.

This is about breast cancer, namely prevention, researching the causes, finding therapies to cure or treat breast cancer, as well as advising and supporting women affected and the people around them.

Here in Iceland, the campaign, supported by Krabbameinsfélagið, the Icelandic Cancer Society, is really in the public eye - October is really pink here. In public places, such as here at the roundabout on the bridge in Selfoss, there are pink flags with a ribbon on it; buildings such as the Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík or the church here in Selfoss are illuminated pink.

Well, at the end of October the foil over the spotlight was a bit worn out and last year only half the church was lit in pink, but that also had something.

Bleika slaufan - Pink Ribbon

The "pink ribbon" is the symbol of this annual awareness and fundraising campaign by cancer societies to combat breast cancer in women. You can buy them here in Iceland in numerous shops across the country, the shops took part in the campaign free of charge and, as far as I know, there is no VAT, so all proceeds go directly to the campaign.

The money will be used to offer free advice and support to people with cancer and their families, but also to medical staff and social workers, and to promote research, education and prevention work. All projects aim to prevent cancer, reduce the number of people who die from it and improve the quality of life of those affected and their families.

Bleiki dagurinn 2024

The “pink day”, the highlight of the campaign, was this year on Wednesday, October 23rd.

This day is about two aspects - on the one hand, everyone is encouraged to wear something pink on this day - wear pink, drink a pink milkshake or post your pink soup or pink salad. Give the day a pink glow and give a sign of support and solidarity to all women who have been diagnosed with cancer.

On the other hand, companies that support this campaign offer certain services and products from which part of the proceeds go directly to the campaign. At the electrical retailer, for example, 10% of the proceeds from all pink products sold go to the campaign throughout the week, a health salon donates the daily proceeds from October 23rd, a pink Zumba party donates the entry fees, bakeries and pastry shops take part, sometimes offering extra pink candy and donate a portion of the proceeds, numerous companies (from fitness companies to clothing stores and galleries to payment service providers) participate and donate a certain percentage of the proceeds.

In this way, public attention for cancer is gained, including on social media, as well as concrete financial support for the numerous projects.

This year, 2024, the campaign around the “bleika slaufan” is celebrating its 25th anniversary . There was also a special anniversary exhibition at the beginning of October, at which all of the cancer society's "Pink Ribbons" were shown from the beginning, a different ribbon every year. Additionally, 9 artists have designed special t-shirts that will be auctioned off to support the Icelandic Cancer Society. This auction runs until October 31st.

A few figures from the Icelandic Cancer Society

According to official figures, Iceland had exactly 383,726 inhabitants on January 1, 2024, around 49% of whom were women. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Iceland, accounting for approximately 1/3 of all cancers diagnosed in women. From 2018 to 2022, an average of 971 women per year in Iceland were diagnosed with breast cancer.

By the way, around 1% of people suffering from breast cancer are men.

From 2017 to 2024, a total of 562 million crowns were awarded to 58 Icelandic cancer research projects from the Icelandic Cancer Society's science funds. That's the equivalent of around 3.8 million euros.

[Translated from here.]

Breytingar á Geysissvæðinu

Changes - Increased activity in the Geyser area

Since October 19, 2024, the Icelandic Meteorological Agency (Veðurstofa Íslands), which is also responsible for monitoring the forces of nature and the dangers they pose, has reported unusual and increased activity in the hot springs in the Haukadalur geothermal area.

Due to reports in the media, I took advantage of the good weather on Sunday (October 27th) to look at these changes on site. Apparently many Icelandic families had the same idea; I've rarely heard so much Icelandic here.

Strokkur erupts more often, stronger and higher than usual

Normally, Strokkur, the large active geyser in this area, erupts every 5 to 10 minutes, usually once, sometimes twice, and very rarely three times in a row. The water column reaches a height of up to 20 meters, but can sometimes be significantly smaller.

Photo from August 2024

Due to the increased activity in the area, the Strokkur is currently erupting much more strongly.

Pictures from October 27, 2024

The cloud of water eruption reaches a height of up to 30 meters. The eruptions are sometimes so violent that rock material and stones are thrown into the air.

Yesterday, as I was about to leave, the strokkur felt like it was "escalating" - first I heard the water fountain and the shouts of the people behind me, turned around again and took another "farewell photo". But then it went on, the next burst followed, and another, and another... When I counted, I got 9 or 10 bursts in a row, but I was so surprised that I may have gotten confused when counting.

Based on my photos, I'm sure about at least 8 eruptions in a row; according to my camera, there are a little less than 3 minutes between the first and the last photo.

In a newspaper report from October 24th, the park ranger in Haukadalur reported 12 eruptions within 2 minutes. Such an “escalation” from the Strokkur is apparently really happening at the moment, but it is extremely unusual.

Blesi is cooking

Blesi thermal spring is located above Strokkur. It's usually quiet here, but things are completely different right now. The path directly in front of the spring, which was beautifully paved just this summer, is cordoned off and there is a large, solid wooden sign in front of it: "Lokað / Closed" and that is "vegna hættulegra aðstæðna / due to dangerous condition".

Blesi is a hot spring with two different colored pools. The water from the spring first flows into the first basin, which is filled with colorless, boiling hot water. Depending on the outside temperature, the hot water lets the pool steam to varying degrees. Some of the water from the first pool then flows into the second pool. The water cools down and the silica contained in the thermal water reacts with the air. The water surface in the second pool then reflects the surrounding light, usually creating a wonderfully bright, intense blue color.

Blesi is currently "boiling" - it's steaming enormously, small bubbles rise on one side, the bubbles get bigger, a small column of water slowly rises, splashes, bubbles and bubbles, splashes into the other basin and floods the surrounding area. Then it becomes less again for a short time - and then starts again.

I've absolutely never seen it like that before. However, friends have assured that they have already experienced activity in the spring some years ago. The water here is said to have sometimes reached a height of 0.5 to 1 meter. I have a really hard time estimating it, but judging by the people in the background, I think that the water certainly reached a height of more than 1 meter yesterday.

There have been no changes to the geyser itself, so far

There have been no changes to the Great Geyser itself, despite the increased activity in the other springs. In any case, yesterday the water level was smooth and calm, with only light steam rising from the hot springs.

Subjective: Noticeably high water level

My subjective impression yesterday was that the water levels were unusually high everywhere. At Strokkur I had the feeling that the water level in the pool was higher than usual, it was overflowing all around and the "edging" from which the water column shoots upwards was hard to see under the surging water.

At Blesi, where you can usually easily see the two pools of the thermal spring, a third pool of water had apparently formed between the two pools.

And the watercourse, which normally burbles gently next to the path to the exit, roared clearly audibly yesterday and carried more water than I have ever experienced before.

The environmental agency is asking tourists to exercise extra caution and distance in the Geysir area due to increased activity.

The situation on site is being monitored, but so far no clear causes for the increased activity have been identified. Changes in the water table may have caused more pressure in the hot springs. However, the authority is currently assuming that the changes are still within the usual variability of the geothermal system.

Photo from July 2020

Background information about the Haukadalur geothermal area

The Geysir area in Haukadalur is one of the most famous areas with springs (goshverir) in the world, especially one of the few that have been known for centuries. The Great Geyser is probably the oldest known and still (occasionally) active geyser in the world.

In 1294 there was a large earthquake in southern Iceland and in writings from the end of the 13th century the Great Geyser was first described as a hot spring in this area. However, geological studies indicate that the geothermal area in Haukadalur has probably been active since the end of the last great ice age in Iceland around 10,000 years ago.

The Great Geyser was first mentioned by name in 1647, after several large earthquakes in southern Iceland from 1630 onwards. Although the geyser did not erupt regularly at the time, its water column probably reached a height of around 60 to 80 meters at that time. Over the centuries, the geyser's activity has changed significantly. Around 1845 it reached a height of up to 170 meters, but from 1900 onwards its activity decreased significantly, probably because the surface of the lake (= cooling area) became too large. In some cases it was caused to break out by soapy water. After the earthquake in the summer of 2000, the geyser erupted again, but it has now been a while since the last eruption.

There are numerous other hot springs around the Great Geysir and its now more active colleague Strokkur. e.g. Konungshver and Blesi.

Strokkur - photo from December 2023

Strokkur eruption, photo from February 2023

The area immediately around the hot springs Geysir, Strokkur and Blesi was purchased in 1935 by the Icelandic entrepreneur Sigurður Jónasson (1896 - 1965) and donated to the Icelandic state. The remaining area is still privately owned.

The Geysir area in Haukadalur was placed under protection as a natural monument on June 17, 2020.

[Translated from here.]

Eggjakaka með gráðosti og eplum

Omelette with blue cheese and apple

Today I have a recipe for a nice, cozy weekend's breakfast for you, maybe for a brunch.

I found the recipe for it in an Icelandic cookbook from 1982, Omelet with cheese, apple and blue cheese. Sounds a bit unusual, but I think it's actually really tasty!

But I also love blue cheese. Here I used my personal favorite Icelandic cheese: Ljótur.

"Ljótur að utan, ljúfur að innan" - "ugly on the outside, lovely on the inside" is the motto of this blue cheese, which has been produced for several years by the Icelandic dairy MS in Búðardalur in western Iceland. The cheese is not particularly crumbly and it looks impressively ugly from the outside, but tastes wonderful to us!

Ingredients for 1 serving

3 eggs

30 g grated cheese

1/2 apple

50 g blue cheese

1 pinch of pepper

2 Tbsp butter

Preparation

Wash, peel, quarter, core and cut the apple into thin wedges.

Heat a pan on the stove over medium heat and slowly melt 1 tablespoon of butter.

Heat the apple slices in the butter for about 1 minute, then remove them from the pan and set aside.

Melt the second spoonful of butter in the pan over medium heat.

Beat the eggs with a fork, add the grated cheese and season with fresh pepper.

When the butter begins to simmer, add the scrambled egg to the pan and fry over medium heat until golden brown on the bottom.

Cut the blue cheese into small cubes.

When the bottom of the omelet is golden brown, but the top is not yet fully baked, spread the apple slices over half of the omelet...

...sprinkle with the blue cheese...

... and carefully fold the omelet together.

Let it stand briefly in the hot pan so that the blue cheese melts a little, and then serve immediately.

I served the Eggjakaka here with freshly buttered Icelandic rye bread (rúgbrauð) and fresh parsley. The parsley adds a bit of freshness and crunch, and it also looks so beautifully colorful.

I wish you a nice, cozy day!

[Translated from here.]

Fyrsti vetrardagur

The first day of winter

The Old Icelandic calendar only knows two seasons - winter and summer. Both seasons last 6 months each.

The first month of winter (gormánuður) begins on the Saturday after the 26th week of summer, usually the Saturday between October 21st and 27th (also October 28th in leap years). The first day of the first winter month is therefore the first day of winter in Iceland (fyrsti vetrardagur).

The first day of winter 2024

So for this year, yesterday, Saturday, October 26, 2024, was the first day of winter in Iceland. It's winter now.

The weather here is currently very changeable, it feels like it changes between sunshine and hailstorms every 10 minutes, and it is still just over 0 °C.

The photo here is from the morning, taken around a quarter to 9. You can see that everything is still wet, the clouds are hanging low, but the dawn is shining on the horizon.

On the other hand, there have been gaps in the clouds in the evenings over the last few days and I was able to enjoy the northern lights, like the view to the north from the study window here. By the way, the moon had just risen at the bottom right.

Seriously - I took the picture here on the right about 20 minutes before midnight last night, then I went to bed. And just before midnight the storm was blowing so hard again and the hail felt like it was sweeping horizontally across the terrace that I got up again and checked to make sure everything was okay because it was rattling so loudly. Really - maybe 15 minutes after this Northern Lights picture here!

Winter month - slaughter month

The first winter month in the Old Icelandic calendar was also known as the "slaughter month" - after the cattle round-up took place at the end of September, the animals that were not to be brought over the winter were slaughtered. Therefore, the first month of winter is the perfect time for a really good meat soup made from freshly slaughtered Icelandic lamb. Accordingly, Kjótsúpadagur was celebrated on the Skólavörðustígur in Reykjavík for several years on the first day of winter; Unfortunately, this beautiful tradition is no longer being continued.

Vetrarboð

There used to be large celebrations and invitations at this time, probably also for very practical reasons: the freshly slaughtered meat had to be consumed quickly, as it used to be difficult - without salt and without modern freezers - to preserve the meat sufficiently. And even though a lot of things were smoked or marinated in whey, a lot of things had to be eaten straight away so that they didn't spoil. So it's the perfect opportunity to invite your neighbors to be generous - and look forward to the return invitation.

Although winter in Iceland was never an easy time - cold, dark, snowy and full of storms. People often feared the winters and in order to perhaps prepare themselves a little better for what was to come, at the beginning of winter it was also necessary to read from various omens about what the coming winter would be like.

Veðurspá fyrir vetri

Some people tried to read from the Milky Way in early November what the winter would be like. The band of the Milky Way stretches across the sky as an irregularly wide stripe - the entire strip then stood for the coming winter and the places where the stripe was particularly thick were intended to indicate at which times the winter would be particularly snowy.

Another method was to read the course of winter from the intestines of the first sheep slaughtered on the farm in the fall. The intestine represented the course of the winter and was "read" from bottom to top - the free areas in the intestine then represented the particularly hard, deprived times in the coming winter.

Alternatively, the sheep's spleen was used for weather forecasting: the spleen was removed, two or three incisions were made blindly and the spleen was then hung on the wall. The spleen gradually turns white as it hangs on the wall and dries, and the parts that turned white first were said to foretell the snowiest phases of the winter.

With that in mind - thank you for the past summer and I wish you and all of us the best possible winter!

Grindavík opin á ný

Grindavík is open to the public again

On Monday, October 21, 2024, the town of Grindavík reopened to the public after more than 11 months of closure.

Since November 10, 2023, access to the city has been restricted for security reasons. In some cases access was completely forbidden. Often only people who lived or worked there or had special errands to do were allowed into Grindavík. Access was controlled. Now the city has been “reopened”. The main purpose of the opening is to give the companies that are still operating locally a possible perspective - to "supply oxygen" to them again, as it is said here.

Access at your own risk

Access to the city is currently no longer restricted as of October 21, 2024. The whole place is a designated danger area.

There can be unexpected cracks and cracks in the ground anywhere that you can fall into. One person has already died in such a crevice. That's why it's important to only walk on the streets and not enter properties or open spaces.

The fenced areas may not be entered!

Traffic in and out of the city is monitored electronically, for safety reasons in the event of a possible evacuation.

Everyone in Grindavík stays in the danger zone at their own risk. Everyone is responsible for their own actions and inactions.

Grindavík is not a place for children. Under no circumstances should you leave children unattended here!

Large signs give instructions:

Leave the place when the civil protection sirens sound. In the event of an evacuation alarm, follow the marked escape routes.

Large, green signs clearly indicate the escape route in Icelandic and English: Flóttaleið. Emergency exit.

Also important - respect for the residents. So many people have lost their houses and apartments, their familiar surroundings, their neighbors, their jobs, their schools, their clubs. It is therefore important to at least behave sensitively on site. You do not enter private property. And you don't look into the windows of the abandoned houses.

Also important for visitors: There are currently no public toilets in Grindavík. Guests can only use the toilets in restaurants that are open, such as in this pizzeria

In addition to the pizzeria, there are a few other businesses in Grindavík that are currently open, such as a fish restaurant at the harbor that offers lunch on weekdays, a bakery that is currently open again in the mornings, a mechanic's workshop and even a guesthouse reopened earlier this week. Other companies also plan to open as soon as the necessary repair work is completed.

Our trip to Grindavík on the second day of opening

We were scheduled to go to Reykjanes on Tuesday (October 22nd) and we had to go to the airport. When the opening of Grindavík was announced a few days before, we decided we would go there for a bit.

Velkomin til Grindavikur -
the old welcome sign above the city

View of the city from above
and the new lava

Oppressive atmosphere on site

There is an oppressive atmosphere on site. The empty city, almost no cars in front of the houses, no flower pots in the windows, curtains on the windows in front of empty apartments, no pedestrians, no children playing... just deep cracks, more or less destroyed houses, cordoned off areas and silence.

Just the way into the city makes you aware of where you are - the new road leads over fresh lava, there is steam on the right and left of the road. No place to stay here.

We passed the remains of the power line on the road. This power pole here, on its elevated plateau, had stood high enough to survive the lava flow, but the lines had collapsed in the heat and the poles closer to town were left as black, charred ruins above the fresh lava.

At the beginning of the town you pass the Nettó supermarket. Nettó was the only grocery store in Grindavík, but now it is closed. I remember that we used to go shopping here, it was a lively, lively place full of people and in the store they played the ESC song "Satellite" by Lena Meyer-Landrut, so it must have been in the summer of 2010. Nowadays the place is quiet and empty.

Photo exhibition at the entrance to the town

A photo exhibition is now set up in an empty parking lot next to the Nettó parking lot.

Since January 2020, the photographer Sigurður Ólafur Sigurðsson has regularly accompanied people on site for civil protection and emergency management and has captured and documented the events in the city in his pictures on around 70 trips so far.

In October 2024 he published his photo book “Reykjanes vaknar” (= “Reykjanes awakens”). On over 400 pages he documents the history of the place during this time with around 500 selected images and short texts.

Around 20 of these pictures can now be viewed on site in this photo exhibition in Grindavík and they tell of the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the destruction, but also the people's fight for the place, of solidarity, ingenuity and courage and the collective Power of the Icelanders.

Since the evacuation in November 2023, Grindavík has been a more or less abandoned city. In the meantime, residents were able to return to the city. On average, people are currently staying in up to 60 houses in the town, but often there are only around 30 houses.

Here, in front of the city's former sports center, you can clearly see the damage caused by the earthquakes in the cordoned off area.

For comparison, here is a picture from a newspaper article by Ragnhildur Helgadóttir in Morgunblaðið ( mbl.is) from November 13, 2023. A member of the rescue team is standing here and looking at the deep crack in the street that has opened up here, smoking. But the parking lot in front of the sports center is still a flat area, cars are parked here, police officers and members of the rescue teams are walking around and the lanterns are still up.

Source: mbl.is from November 13, 2023

Things are different now. The earthquakes tore the entire area apart. The road is now usable again, you drive over a large wall that they used to fill and bridge the cracks. But the damage is obvious: one half of the footpath was simply moved up about a meter, or the other half was moved down, I have no idea. You really can't see at what level the path used to run here, and both below and above the crack there is a solid level - just "offset", but complete, with everything that stood on it. Some lanterns along the path are still there, others are no longer there, and the power lines have also been torn.

I can't imagine what forces were at work here.

Many areas in the city are completely cordoned off, and residents are no longer allowed to go there for safety reasons.

In some cases larger areas of the city are cordoned off, in other cases “only” individual rows of houses that are particularly affected.

There are large barriers from the hardware store everywhere that completely block off entire neighborhoods and paths. And steam rises from the remaining cracks in the road...

The massive damage caused by the earthquakes is clearly visible on many houses. Many wooden structures on the roofs cracked. Corrugated iron exterior cladding simply fell off. Deep cracks run through the concrete of the houses, like here in the window next to the door and on the facade.

The notes that people hung on the windows during the evacuation on November 10, 2023 in accordance with the evacuation plan for the city are still hanging on a number of windows as a simple message to the rescue workers: "Farin". Gone. Gone. All gone, no one there anymore. This meant that the rescue workers were able to ensure more quickly that the entire area had actually been cleared.

Source: mbl.is from November 13, 2023 / Photo Brynjólfur Löve

Today the message on the pieces of paper has faded, but many of the pieces of paper are still hanging, clearly visible in the windows.

Here is a current photo of the Víðihlíð nursing home in Grindavík - the nursing home building was severely damaged by the earthquake in the early evening of November 10, 2023, the burst water pipes had flooded several parts of the facility and in one place the building is almost in split into two parts. The facility was evacuated by the Þorbjörn rescue team, before the general evacuation of the city.

After a short, oppressive stay, we left the city again towards Keflavík.

The Suðurnes police chief told the Morgunblaðið newspaper yesterday that the influx to Grindavík after opening to the public on Monday was not large. There has not been much tourist traffic in the city so far.

History of the evacuation of the city on November 10, 2023

The evacuation of Grindavík with its around 3,300 residents took place on the evening of November 10, 2023, after strong earthquakes and massive damage occurred on site. The strongest quake had a magnitude of 5.2. Street 43, the Grindavíkurvegur, was literally torn apart by the quakes around 8 p.m. As the evening progressed, massive damage to buildings in the area was reported. At around 10 p.m., the civil defense decided, in consultation with the experts, to evacuate the place. From 11 p.m., people were asked to leave their homes in an orderly manner - turn off electricity, turn off water, pack and take medicines and personal items with them, if necessary on pillows and blankets for the night. The evacuation was completed around 3 a.m. Subsequently, most of the rescue workers were withdrawn for safety reasons.

On December 18, 2023, an eruption occurred north of Grindavík, but only briefly. An attempt was then made to secure the location again. Numerous ramparts were built around the city and the infrastructure, which subsequently proved to be very effective. Without these protective walls, the city might no longer exist.

A fatal accident occurred on January 10, 2024 during work to fill the resulting cracks in the area. While shaking the filling material, the 50-year-old worker fell into a crack that appeared relatively small on the surface, but which widened extremely downwards. Despite an intensive search, the man could no longer be found.

The next volcanic eruption followed on January 15, 2024. Lava flowed from a smaller fissure that opened very close to the city. Three houses burned to the ground.

The damage to the site is considerable. At least 74 houses were completely destroyed by the earthquake, and many other houses were also massively damaged.

The government supported the residents of Grindavík, the Grindvíkingar, in finding alternative housing, both through special offer portals and financially through housing benefit. The insurance pays for completely destroyed houses; for other buildings, the state will buy up private apartments and houses from residents of Grindavík for 95% of the fire insurance value until the end of 2024 upon request. There is currently no comparable regulation for commercial real estate.