A Calamity in Iceland

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 5, 1875

A Calamity in Iceland.

VILLAGES DESTROYED, THOUSANDS MADE HOMELESS AND MANY PERSONS KILLED.

LONDON, June 12.—About six weeks ago there was a heavy rain of ashes and cinders along the northern coast of Norway, covering the ground several inches deep. Investigation revealed the fact that these strange materials, coming from a northwesterly direction like immense clouds through the air, were of volcanic origin. It was at once thought that there must have been an eruption of Mount Hecla in Iceland. A steamer was dispatched from Copenhagen, and that vessel has returned from Reykjavik, with news of unparalleled disaster. It seems that the outbreak began on Christmas, and has continued ever since with scarcely any interruption. For seven weeks before Christmas the inhabitants were terrified by subterranean noises like thunder, which extended through nearly two-thirds of the Island. Early in January followed earthquakes in all directions, and at last, an old extinct volcano near Vatnayskud opened, and for four weeks continued to eject immense quantities of liquid fire, lava, ashes, and a muddy fluid mass at boiling heat. The village and some smaller hamlets and farms within a radius of twenty miles, were destroyed, and over a thousand people had to flee for their lives.

After four weeks this volcano ceased, but at that instant another extinct volcano, nearly a hundred miles away, near Myvatu, sent its burning mass upon the peaceful habitations around. This eruption lasted for several weeks, the village of Myvatu became a prey to the fiery elements, and the whole country for more than fifty miles around was devastated. More than eight hundred of the people are reported as having been rendered homeless.

Early in March, there seemed to be a general upheaval of the earth in the whole central portion of the island; new mounds, as it were, rose to the surface, some to a height of several hundred feet, and over a thousand feet in diameter at the base, amid tremendous shocks of thundering beneath. They split open at the top and vomited forth their burning contents upon the surface around them, covering a distance of 200 miles. Ten thousand people are said to have lost nearly all their possessions, and the remainder, who live nearer to and along the coasts, some forty thousand in number, are themselves too poor to support such a vast number of needy people. Several hundred persons are also reported to have perished. The world-renowned Geysers have dried up since the terrible eruption began, and instead of water, these mysterious funnels emit immense quantities of hot smoke and ashes, which, during the night, rising several thousand feet into the air, appear like gigantic columns of flameless fire, visible for hundreds of miles. It is said that no historic record of any volcanic eruption anywhere in the world compares with this, either in territory over which it extends, the number of newly opened craters, or the time of its duration. The Copenhagen Government has issued an appeal for aid to the sufferers.