Is Reykjavik safe from the Iceland volcano eruption? How far away is the capital from the volcano?

The world has woken up to the news of a new volcanic eruption, this time in Iceland. On October 25 there was a spike in seismic activity near the Fagradalsfjall volcano, which forced the evacuation of the town of Grindavik, located on the south coast of the Reykjanes peninsula.

On the night of December 18, strong seismic activity started and was soon confirmed by the Icelandic Meteorological and Seismological Office at 21:00 local time; soon after, the disturbances culminated in a volcanic eruption clocked at 22:17 that night.

Icelandic volcano: live updates

Which Icelandic city is most at risk from the volcano?

The situation in Iceland’s capital, although serious, does not seem too critical. The volcano is located in the south of the country, and the population that is most at risk due to the proximity and the path that the cracks and magma are taking is Grindavik.

The MET assures that the size of the fissure caused by the eruption is about 3.5 kilometres long at the moment, which can continue advancing towards the southwest, where it could reach the town of Grindavik, around 3 kilometres away.

How far away is Reykjavík from the eruption? Is it safe from the eruption?

As things stand, Reykjavík, the Icelandic capital, is not in an extremely dangerous situation. The eruption is about 40 kilometres away from the city and at the moment it is not advancing in the direction of the city. Even so, as was seen in 2010 with the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, the consequences could be catastrophic both in Iceland and across Europe.

On that occasion, air traffic across the continent was completely paralysed, causing chaos and more than 100,000 flights were cancelled as a result of the smoke released by the volcano. However, that eruption was much more powerful than the one which occurred on Monday.