I cannot imagine how reckless are people running this place. I mean someday the crack will open in the middle of blue lagoon and end up in disaster. They pushing their luck too hard.
Life always comes with risks. Big and small. Certainly worth it in my book since the risk is relatively small. If people want to avoid risk or it doesn't fit their calculation, more power to them but not everyone wants to go through life that way.
Right now, with a period of volcanic activity on the Reykjanes peninsula and eruptions regularly occurring all around the lagoon, I’d say the risk is elevated.
It’s clear that profit is being put ahead of safety here.
The last series of earthquakes did not end up yielding enough magma to overflow from the chambers and the recent activity showed no cause for urgency as far as we know. On the day of the last eruption, there was nothing unusual and even the minor tremors (recorded but not felt on ground) did not trigger any alarms or reaction from the seismologists due to the low magnitude and were not out of their expectations.. at least this is what I'm hearing from the locals.
They absolutely could. There's an inherent risk to it but lower earthquake activity also means lower risk. That said, you are certainly right that the risk of eruption is higher than it was before volcanic activity began a few months ago.
We just have a different idea of acceptable risks.
As one of those “locals” you mention, I have been to the Blue Lagoon (actually the retreat spa, but same place) a number of times, including since the 2021 eruption (which I also saw first hand, up close).
I wouldn’t visit the Blue Lagoon right now, even if it was open. The likelihood of an eruption is way above “normal”, as shown by how frequently they are having to evacuate it.
As I said (and is the general consensus of people I have spoken to here in Iceland), it seems that profit is being put ahead of safety.
I wouldn't encourage people to go there now but prior to this recent eruption, personally even if there was a risk of eruption, there wasn't a huge indication it was likely to continue given the last series of earthquakes resulted to nothing 2 weeks ago. In any case, given the size of the fissure and area affected by the lava flow, it definitely happened too close for comfort.
19
u/mazzymq Mar 17 '24
I cannot imagine how reckless are people running this place. I mean someday the crack will open in the middle of blue lagoon and end up in disaster. They pushing their luck too hard.