Icelandic officials have ordered the evacuation of Grindavik, a fishing town of 3,400 on the southwestern coast, due to the risk of a volcanic eruption, an event caused, in Nordic lore, by the god Loki attempting to escape his bonds, an origin story that has somehow escaped the Marvel Universe rewrite of mythology.
Officials were not low-key about the risk, per CBS News: seismic activity had moved south along the Reykjanes Peninsula toward the town, located about 31 miles from Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, and authorities were worried the town would be either in the path of or cut of by a flow of magma that scientists believe is forming under the town, with a non-zero possibility that the town itself could be the point where the magma would surface.
The Icelandic Meteorological Services issued a warning for the area that for a “[s]ignificant likelihood of a volcanic eruption in the coming days” which for an Icelander is almost a full-blown panic.