A strong earthquake measuring 6.1 has hit southern Iceland, 50km (30 miles) from the capital, Reykjavik. In the town of Selfoss, near the epicentre, buildings were damaged and up to 20 people needed treatment for minor injuries, reports say. Residents in the capital felt buildings shake and aftershocks were felt in the south-west of the country. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at 1546 GMT at a shallow 6.2 miles (10 km).
Paul Enarson, Professor of Geophysics at the Institute of Earth Sciences in Iceland, told the BBC that the earthquake happened in an area popular with tourists: "It was close to the town of Selfoss and there is apparently, according to the preliminary news, considerable damage in that town," he said. "Iceland is sitting on a plate boundary where the North America and Eurasian plates are drifting apart. So it's a country of volcanoes and earthquakes and so earthquakes are common but large earthquakes are relatively rare," he added. |