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Iceland, Hawaii and Italy have all tried to control lava to save cities in the past. A volcanologist explains the methods.
Iceland’s president said the country is battling “tremendous forces of nature,” after molten lava from a volcano in the island’s southwest consumed several houses in the evacuated town of Grindavik. Johannesson said in a televised address late Sunday that “a daunting period of upheaval has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula,” where a long-dormant volcanic system has awakened. Authorities had ordered residents to leave the fishing town of Grindavik hours earlier as a swarm of small earthquakes indicated an imminent eruption.
Iceland has extended the “danger zone” at risk of a catastrophic volcanic eruption, warning of flowing lava and noxious gases on a wider area of the Reykjanes peninsula. Visitors to its most volatile sector are now required to carry gas masks.
Iceland declared a state of emergency on Friday after a series of powerful earthquakes rocked the country's southwestern Reykjanes peninsula, in what could be a precursor to a volcanic eruption."The National police chief ... declares a state of emergency for civil defence due to the intense earthquake (activity) at Sundhnjukagigar, north of Grindavik," the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management said in a statement.