Strong earthquake hits Iceland
Property damaged but no injuries as magnitude 6.1 quake hits near Reykjavik.
Published On 30 May 2008
In Selfoss itself there was severe damage to buildings and dozens of panicked people had poured into the streets, a witness told Reuters news agency.
“Everything was shaking. The glass in the windows shook and everybody was just really scared,” said the witness in Reykjavik.
“In Selfoss, where it happened, I heard everything is broken and people are standing outside in the street and everybody is terrified.”
Volcanic island
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Don Blakeman, an earthquake analyst at the USGS, said: “It looks like a 6.1 or a 6.2. As this part of Iceland sits on the north Atlantic ridge, it’s not uncommon for there to be earthquakes.”
Iceland, which has a population of 300,000, is a geologically unstable volcanic island in the north Atlantic.
The country’s last major earthquake, in June 2000, measured 6.6 on the Richter scale.
It knocked down a dozen houses but caused no serious injuries.