Iceland review - 2013, Qupperneq 63

ICELAND REVIEW 61

By Eygló Svala arnarSdóttir PHoTo By SigurgEir JónaSSon
My dad woke me up and I heard a loud rumble. I looked
out the window and saw a wall of fire extend from the
mountain. My first thought was that a war had broken
out—with the Cold War being on everyone’s mind—and remem-
ber feeling relieved when I realized it was a volcanic eruption…
I was 13.”
This is how Kristín Jóhannsdóttir, marketing manager of the
Westman Islands (vestmannaeyjar), recollects the volcanic eruption
of Heimaey which came without warning on January 23, 1973.
She and her siblings were brought to the harbor from where ships
carried islanders to the mainland. Miraculously, only one person
perished.
The next two and a half years Kristín and her family stayed as
eruption refugees in Reykjavík, at first with relatives, then in tem-
porary housing. Her father remained on Heimaey throughout the
eruption to help save whatever could be salvaged.
Also making a hasty escape that fateful night was Gerður G.
Sigurðardóttir, who became devastated when she realized that her
new house had been buried in a 15-meter thick layer of pumice,
emitted during the eruption, which died down on July 3, 1973.
But now her house is being excavated and Gerður has found
everything the way she and her family had left it. A dome will be
built on top of the house, which will become the center of the
museum Eldheimar (‘Worlds of Fire’), set to open this year to mark
the 40th anniversary of the Heimaey eruption.
On January 23, islanders will remember the event with a torch
parade and fireworks show. The event will be followed by the more
celebratory Goslokahátíð (‘End of Eruption Festival’) held annually
during the first weekend of July. 
Worlds oF Fire
January 23, 2013, marks 40 years since the Westman Islands volcanic eruption.
hIsTORY