Hundreds of people in Iceland evacuated amid fears of 2nd volcanic eruption
By APWednesday, April 14, 2010
Iceland evacuates hundreds near restless volcano
LONDON — Icelandic emergency officials evacuated hundreds of people near a restless volcano Wednesday amid fears of second eruption.
Some 800 people near the Eyjafjallajokull (AYA-feeyapla-yurkul) volcano were evacuated after seismic activity suggested it may have erupted for the second time, said Rognvaldur Olafsson, a chief inspector for the Icelandic Civil Protection Agency. The volcano, 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Reykjavik, erupted March 20 month after almost 200 years of silence.
“The volcano in question is under a glacier,” Olafsson said. “If an eruption happens, there could be flash floods.”
Olafsson said heavy cloud cover was preventing scientists from flying over the glacier to determine what precisely is happening and whether the volcano has actually erupted.
Iceland, a nation of 320,000 people, sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic’s mid-oceanic ridge. Volcanic eruptions are often triggered by seismic activity when the Earth’s plates move and when magma from deep underground pushes it’s way to the surface.
