Previously evacuated residents of Iceland's Grindavik town continue to make return trips to collect personal belongings from their homes despite the imminent danger of a volcano outbreak.
"Maybe something happens, there could be an eruption while we're inside," Grindavik resident Gudmundur Thorlaugarson told CGTN Europe.
The 31-year-old and his wife are going back to the partly destroyed fishing village for a second time now…carrying a list of items they want to save most - from the likely lava outbreak.
"To see the big cracks everywhere and all the houses are ruined. It's very sad because I'm born and raised there," Gudmundur adds.
Security forces and civil volunteers do their best to ensure safe passage. "We gather people here in groups and then once we get the go-ahead we let them go," says volunteer Egill Andri. "We try to keep calm so that the residents don't start panicking."
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Officials in Iceland say a volcanic eruption could come any day now on its Reykjanes peninsula - about 42 kilometers southwest of the capital Reykjavík. Key indicators are the rising magma beneath the crack… and seismic activity which has slightly decreased…something Iceland has seen before past eruptions.
Cracks have been destroying infrastructure in Iceland's town of Grindavik amid the imminent danger of a volcano erupting. /CGTN Europe
Meanwhile, Iceland's Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir is working on financial aid for the almost 4,000 Grindavik residents forced to evacuate.
"The main issue now is to ensure that the people in Grindavik have salaries. They cannot go to work now in Grindavik obviously," she told CGTN after holding a press conference on Saturday. "We have proposed a bill for the parliament to ensure the salaries for the next three months and we are working as fast as we can to ensure proper housing for those people."
According to Iceland's meteorological agency, there also is a chance the magma may stop flowing. This however, is less likely than a volcanic eruption.
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