Grindavik eruption: Iceland 'entering a new volcanic era' | BBC News

So bringing back to the volcano that's erupting in Iceland, these are some live pictures coming to us. A state of emergency has been declared in southern Iceland because of that volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula which is the fourth since December. Our reporter Sofia Batitsa joins us from the newsroom. She reported from Iceland when the volcano erupted at the end of last year. So tell us a little bit about what we know about this particular eruption. So what we know is that the volcano erupted on Saturday. It was a very powerful eruption and because of that a state of emergency has been declared in the south of the country. And I mean if we just look at the images they are incredible. We can see bright orange lava flying in the air. We can see big clouds of smoke and when I was near that volcano in December I remember the smell of smoke being overwhelming. I remember seeing ashes flying in the air and from time to time I could feel the ground shaking under my feet. Now at the moment the lava has reached Negrindavík which is a village near the volcano that has been evacuated as a precaution. And the lava is also heading towards the Blue Lagoon which is one of Iceland's most popular tourist destinations which has now been closed until further notice. And when you were there, when people were sort of experiencing this kind of eruption, what did they tell you? What sort of things do they do to deal with it? I think what struck me the most was that there are almost two separate realities in Iceland. On one hand you've got tourists who just couldn't believe their luck. They were mesmerized by this force of nature. They were trying to get as close as possible to the volcano, taking photos, taking videos. I mean one man even proposed to his girlfriend near the volcano. But on the other hand you've got people who live in Iceland and I remember talking to a man and asking him, how do you feel seeing this volcano erupting right next to your home? And he just looked at me and said, this is just a regular Tuesday in Iceland. So I mean that sort of goes to show that people there feel that they are fully equipped to deal with volcanic eruptions. Just briefly though, the predictions at the moment are of a new volcanic era. When it's termed in that way, are people concerned at all? I think they are concerned and when I interviewed some people from Grindavík, they told me that they were worried about the fact that their village and other villages nearby could just be erased from the map. So I think the concern is not so much about the immediate response but about, as you just said, about the fact that this could become a regular occurrence. And I mean I think they've got a point because Iceland has 33 active volcanoes and the last time that it had, that the area had volcanic activity was about 800 years ago and the eruptions lasted for decades. So what scientists are saying now is that Iceland is entering a new volcanic era which could last decades and possibly even centuries.