Residents of the Arctic island nation of Iceland have spent a week in a state of panic. The country has been hit by earthquakes # 18,000 times in the past week, which is unusual even for the world's most earthquake-prone areas.
According to the US media CNN, earthquakes are a daily occurrence in Iceland as there are live volcanoes. However, the number of earthquakes in a week is not normal at all.
The country's meteorological office said there were about 16,000 earthquakes in the Reykjavik region of southwestern Iceland last week.
The worst earthquake was on February 24. Its level on the Richter scale was 5_decimal_6. The capital, Reykjavk, and its environs were shaken. Two-thirds of the country's total population lives here.
After that, there were 5 magnitude earthquakes on 26 February and 1 March.
The quake's epicenter was reported below the ground, however; no tsunami alert was issued. The epicenter was reported below the ground, however; no tsunami alert was issued.
"I've been to a lot of earthquakes before, but I've never been to one," Adur Alfa Olafsadati, a resident of Reykjavk, told CNN.
"It's as if the earth is shaking 24 hours a day," he said. The whole week has passed like this. You feel very helpless to nature. '
"Such an experience has never happened before," Paul Valor Johnson, a teacher and deputy member of parliament for the coastal town of Grindavic, told reporters. I wasn't scared but I felt quite uncomfortable. I woke up twice at night because of the earthquake. '
"Earthquakes can happen, big earthquakes can happen, but it's very unusual to have an earthquake for such a long time," said Parvaldur Povarson, a professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland. The quake has been going on for about a week.
"I'm trying to figure out why this is happening," he said.
Local officials feared an eruption in such an unusual incident.