The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police, in collaboration with the Chief of Police in North East Iceland, has declared an uncertainty phase due to earthquakes in North Iceland. An earthquake swarm started on 19th of June offshore North Iceland, NE of Siglufjörður. The largest earthquake so far was M5,8 on June 21st. On June 20th two strong earthquakes were located in the area, M5,4 and M5,6. These earthquakes have been felt in areas in North and West Iceland.
The Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management in collaboration with Civil Protection authorities in North Iceland are following the development closely and have regular meetings with the Met Office. People in the area should make their houses and workplaces earthquake safe and be aware of various hazards that accompany earthquakes i.e. rock falls and avalanches in mountainous areas and even small tsunamis by the coast. Prevention and preparedness measure can be found on the Civil Protection website https://www.almannavarnir.is/english/preventive-measures/earthquakes-duck-cover-hold/
Uncertainty phase is characterized by an event which has already started and could lead to a threat to people, communities or the environment. At this stage the collaboration and coordination between the Civil Protection Authorities and stakeholders begins. Monitoring, assessment, research and evaluation of the situation is increased. The event is defined and a hazard assessment is conducted regularly.
The Icelandic Met Office´s seismic network has automatically located over 2500 earthquakes since the activity started. More information can be found on the Met Office website: https://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes.