For the kids at the Graenuvellir kindergarten in Husavik, north Iceland, going out to play was not an option.
They were kept inside on Tuesday last week to protect them from sulfur-dioxide gases spewing from the Holuhraun lava field near the Bardarbunga volcano.
The eruption has been going for almost three months and shows no sign of stopping. Red-hot lava has spread 70km2, covering an area larger than Manhattan.
Photo: AFP
“On regular days the kids go out to play to take in the fresh air, but that’s not really possible or safe under the current conditions,” said Agusta Palsdottir, a manager at the kindergarten, which has 125 children between the ages of one and six.
Icelanders can only wait for nature to run its course as they monitor how gas clouds drift across the island, itself a product of volcanic activity. As descendants of Viking settlers 1,200 years ago, Icelanders have learned to coexist with their volcanoes and to harness their power. Yet some events have proven deadlier than others. In the late 1700s, an eruption triggered a famine that killed 25 percent of Iceland’s population.
“There’s exactly nothing you can do, aside from going inside,” said Kristjan Thor Magnusson, mayor of Nordurthing, the municipality that includes Husavik, a town of 2,200 famous for its whale watching. “People that are more sensitive than others need to avoid physical exertion outside, and try to stay inside and warm up their houses to prevent the gas from getting inside.”
The discomfort of the Graenuvellir kids is also being felt in other towns across Iceland long after the rest of the world stopped fretting over potential disruptions to trans-Atlantic air travel. The island’s Meteorological Office tracks which way the sulfur-dioxide blows daily from the fissure that opened up in the lava field that dates back to an eruption from 1797.
“Which town is affected depends only on weather and winds,” said Bergthora Thorbjarnardottir, a geophysicist at the Met Office.
Bardarbunga, one of Iceland’s largest volcanoes, began rumbling on Aug. 16. An eruption then started from a fissure 300m long and has since been moving northeast, away from the ice. An eruption under the ice of the glacier covering the volcano could cause an explosion that would spew ash into the air and disrupt air travel.
At the beginning of the eruption, airlines were put on alert for a potential repeat of 2010, when a volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull ice cap spewed a column of ash 9km into the air. That event shut airspace across Europe for six days, forcing carriers to cancel more than 100,000 flights.
Ash is a danger because the glass-like particles can damage jet engines.
While the current eruption is not the largest on record, it is being compared to the 1783 Lakagigar blowout, which lasted for seven to eight months and eventually covered 600km2 in lava, Thorbjarnardottir said.
“There’s still a chance that the eruption in Holuhraun will pose a risk to international air travel,” she said. “Although there’s quite a bit of activity in the crater of Bardarbunga volcano, the activity does seem to be moving northeast, away from the ice cap.”
The government has issued warnings on the health risks. Exposure to sulfur-dioxide can cause irritation in the eyes, throat and lungs. High levels can lead to breathing difficulties. Children are the most vulnerable, according to the Icelandic Health Directorate.
“Personally, I can feel the contamination a little,” Palsdottir said. “Breathing is a little uncomfortable and it’s uncomfortable staying outside when the contamination comes in over our town.”
So most Icelanders are just hoping the wind blows the right way and also for rain to damp the gas clouds. They may be in luck, according to the Met Office.
“Wind and rain is the best thing to happen for Icelanders while the eruption continues,” Thorbjarnardottir said. “Iceland usually has plenty of that.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese