Swiss immigrant Joachim B. Schmidt in Reykjavik: “I would like to get in the car and go to the volcano”

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The event that had been announced for weeks took place this morning: A volcano erupted on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula. Swiss writer Joachim B. Schmidt (42) has been living in Reykjavik with his Icelandic wife and two children since 2007. An accident? He recently published the book “Kalmann and the Sleeping Mountain”. Now he talked to Blick about the volcanic eruption.

“I’m almost not allowed to say this, but everything fascinates me,” Schmidt says in an interview. “Nature shows us who is boss here.” The native of Grisons prefers to get very close: “I want to get in the car and drive towards the volcano,” he says. But logic prevails; follows the epidemic on the screen.

Iceland’s capital has largely been spared from the pandemic. There is a safe distance of 35 kilometers as the crow flies between the Swiss writer in Reykjavik and the erupting volcano. “If you go down to the sea and look across the bay, on a clear day you can see the explosion in the distance, the red glow on the horizon,” Schmidt continued. As the wind changes, the air quality in Reykjavik deteriorates. Then it’s time to close the window.

Unpleasant earthquakes before eruption

“But what we noticed here in the city were thousands of earthquakes, mostly smaller, that occurred before the volcanic eruption. “These kinds of earthquakes are really disturbing,” says Schmidt. But there is no panic in Reykjavik. This is the fourth volcanic eruption in almost three years. “We are no longer talking just about individual volcanic eruptions,” Schmidt continues, “but about a whole series: the so-called Reykjanes fire.” So you’re used to it.

Yet there are many open questions. For example, who will pay for the loss of value and damage in Grindavik? The fishing village is close to the volcano and needs to be evacuated. “Insurance companies and banks are shirking, and the government is letting people down. This surprised me. But maybe we can still reach an agreement,” Schmidt says.

Source :Blick