<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>A volcano that erupted in southwest Iceland for the second time in less than a month, setting fire to several houses in a fishing town, appeared to be less active early today.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“A black day” read the front page headline of Icelandic daily Morgunbladid across an image of bright-orange lava fountains and houses burning in the town of Grindavik, some 40km southwest of the capital Reykjavik.</div><div><br></div><div>Molten lava flows reached the outskirts of Grindavik around noon yesterday, setting three houses alight, although the town was evacuated earlier and there was no immediate danger to people.</div><div><br></div><div>It was the second eruption on the peninsula of Reykjanes in four weeks and the fifth since 2021.</div><div><br></div><div>Live video footage today showed glimpses of orange lava still flowing to the surface but at smaller volumes, and further away from the town.</div><div><br></div><div>Geologists yesterday said magma corridors were believed to be flowing underneath the abandoned town, however, posing continued risk.</div><div><br></div><div>“Unfortunately (the lava) went a little bit more south than we had hoped for,” the head of Iceland’s civil protection and emergency management, Vidir Reynisson, told a press conference late yesterday.</div><div><br></div><div>Nevertheless, the defensive barriers built to the north of Grindavik had helped divert the flows of lava to the west, away from the town, Reynisson said.</div><div><br></div><div>Residents of Grindavik, a town of some 4,000 people before it was evacuated in November, said it was difficult to watch televised images of the fires.</div><div><br></div><div>“This is serious, it’s basically as bad as it can possibly get. Although it might get even worse, who knows,” evacuated resident Jon Gauti Dagbjartsson told Reuters late yesterday.</div><div><br></div><div>“I actually live in the house that I was born in and it’s a tough thought to think that this town might be over, and I would have to start all over somewhere else. But if that’s the case, then that’s exactly what we’ll do,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The Icelandic government will meet today to decide on support for the people of Grindavik.</div><div><br></div><div>“We need to put a lot of extra efforts into finding more housing, suitable housing,” Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said.</div><div><br></div><div>Located between the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates, among the largest on the planet, Iceland is a seismic and volcanic hot spot as the two plates move in opposite directions. - Reuters&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>