Iceland village residents begin returning after volcano eruption

The people of Grindavik were evacuated on 11 November after a series of earthquakes, considered a possible precursor to an eruption.

Transcript

00:00 Workers in Iceland are erecting defensive barriers to block out lava from a volcanic eruption.

00:06 Some experts say the eruption is mostly over,

00:09 but the country's National Weather Agency claims it is too soon to make such statements.

00:15 Residents in Grindelvik have been allowed to come back for the first time since the eruption,

00:20 but only short daytime visits are allowed to check their homes.

00:24 We can't pay a loan on a house and rent. It's not possible. So, I mean, we have to come back.

00:33 Nobody wants to buy our house. We can't sell it.

00:37 Yeah, we have a house here that's been, it'll be demolished. It's completely ruined.

00:44 So, as you can see, it's police signs here and kind of nobody is allowed to enter these buildings.

00:53 I think all these houses here, they're all tilting and all cracked and yeah, they will all be demolished.

01:03 The eruption, which began on Monday evening, opened a fissure in the ground about 4 kilometres long

01:08 and only 3 kilometres from Grindelvik.

01:11 Residents were evacuated as a precaution on the 11th of November.

01:16 (whooshing)