Tulsa Couple Visiting Family In Iceland Prepare For Possible Volcano Eruption

Southern Iceland is experiencing hundreds of earthquakes as residents there prepare for the possibility of a volcanic eruption. That includes a Tulsa couple currently in Iceland, just about half an hour away from that area.

Anna Helgadottir and her husband Johann live in Tulsa, but are originally from Iceland and are in the country visiting family. They have a home just outside the capital of Reykjavik.

Like many people in Iceland, they are feeling earthquakes nearly every hour as they wait to see if an eruption will happen.

"When this is about to erupt, you have all these earthquakes and when you have like 2,000 earthquakes in a day, imagine how it wears on you. You don't sleep," Anna said. "We've been experiencing a lot of earthquakes like every 15 minutes. We've been having earthquakes to the point where I've moved things because everything is shaking."

Anna and her husband are staying on the seventh floor of a residential building, with a balcony that overlooks the area where geologists predict an eruption could happen at any time.

"Where the eruption is is across the bay and that's why we can always see it, both from this balcony and from our windows, because this is where the eruptions have been in the past. Because this is eruption number four. We've had a lot of eruptions in the past in that area," Anna recalled.

Thousands of residents are being evacuated near the possible eruption site as giant cracks and fissures are now showing up in streets and residential areas.

"There can be from small to major damage and what we've seen so far, there is quite a bit of damage. Damage enough that you can't fix it. You know you have to condemn the house or building. It will take quite a while to get everything back to normal," Anna said.

Anna said while it may seem dramatic, earthquakes and eruptions are relatively normal for people in Iceland. She said they are prepared and ready.

"We have learned to live in this condition. This is kinda like us Okies. I'm an Icelander and an Okie. With tornadoes, when a tornado comes, we kinda track it and yes, we take cover but most of us don't take cover until the last moment and we learn to live with it. This is basically the same thing," Anna said.

Anna said she and her husband plan to stay in Iceland for another week unless conditions there start to change.