A volcano in southwest Iceland, which has long been dormant, began to erupt on Friday night, but officials said it looks small and is not considered a threat to any city.
The eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula was viewed by a web camera and then confirmed, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said in a statement. The aerial video on its Facebook page showed lava moving at a slow pace, according to the office.
“The rash is considered small at this stage”, said on Twitter, estimating that the fissure was about 500 meters, or 1,640 feet, in length.
The Emergency Management Department was not anticipating evacuations because the volcano is in a remote valley, the Associated Press reported. The prime minister of Iceland said that it is currently not considered a threat to any city.
Reykjavík is about 20 miles away.
Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir said the authorities are watching closely.
“As of now, it is not considered a threat to neighboring cities,” she wrote in a tweet. “We ask people to stay away from immediate areas and stay safe.”
The emergency management agency on Twitter asked people to stay calm and away from the site of the outbreak. He said the production of volcanic gases is expected and that people in the area should stay home and keep the windows closed. The amount of pollution was being assessed.
The Fagradals Mountain volcano had been dormant for 6,000 years, and the Reykjanes Peninsula had not seen the eruption of any volcano in 781 years, the AP reported.
There have been earthquakes and other seismic activities on the peninsula, but activity in the area of the eruption has been less in recent days, the meteorological office said in a statement.
In 2010, a different volcano in a different part of Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull, burst a volcanic ash that spread and caused major flight disruptions in Europe and affected travel around the world. The current eruption is unlikely to release much ash or smoke into the atmosphere, Reuters reported.
The Associated Press contributed.