The residents on the upper floors should be safe if lava flows over the area again

Optimistic Nation

Only thirty km away from Grindavík, where the earth quakes regularly these days and lava is slowly creeping up to the surface, hundreds of workers are building new apartments and industrial buildings on the rather recent lava field, Kapelluhraun in the neighbourhood Vellir in Hafnarfjörður. The lava, which is a rough lava field, surfaced in Krýsuvíkureldar in 1151, and flowed from a 25 km long fissure at Vatnsskarð just north of Kleifarvatn to Hafnarfjörður, a 10 km long route. The area is still active, and whether there will be an eruption in 3 months, 3 years, 30 years or three hundred, no one knows, but there is great optimism among entrepreneurs and the public to invest in structures in this area. Icelandic Times / Land & Saga stopped by in this neighbourhood, the westernmost district of the capital region, to observe the construction work in Kapelluhraun.
Kapelluhraun, has not eroded much since it flowed to Hafnarfjörður in 1151
Hundreds of apartments are being built in an area that could go under lava. We are an unusually optimistic nation.
The foundation has been poured, construction has begun in Kapelluhraun
It will be fun for the children who move to the neighbourhood to play in Kapelluhraun, which is full of cracks like this one, which was at least 3 meters deep
A new street in the making, the foundation is being prepared
A new commercial building is being built in Vellirnir, but many large companies have their offices there, such as Icelandair, Vélsmiðjan Héðinn, Hertz car rental, Fedex and Alcoa.

Photographs & text: Páll Stefánsson
Hafnarfjörður 20/11/2023 – A7C : FE 2.5/40mm G

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