A giant iceberg is pictured behind the Innaarsuit settlement in
Greenland on Thursday. The iceberg is 6 kilometers wide and 100 meters
high.
STOCKHOLM－A 6 kilometer wide iceberg drifting off Greenland has
triggered fears of flooding if it breaks up, leading the authorities to
evacuate a high-risk zone.
The authorities have urged residents of the Innaarsuit island
settlement with houses on a promontory to move away from the shore over
fears that the 100-meter-high iceberg, which was spotted on Thursday,
could swamp the area.
"We fear the iceberg could calve and send a flood toward the
village," Lina Davidsen, a security chief at the Greenland police, told
Danish news agency Ritzau on Friday.
The settlement in northwestern Greenland has 169 inhabitants, but
only those living closest to the iceberg have been evacuated, Ritzau
reported.
"The iceberg is still near the village and the police are now
discussing what to do next," said Kunuk Frediksen, a police chief in the
Danish autonomous territory.
Susanne K. Eliassen, a member of the village council, told the local
newspaper Sermitsiaq that it was not unusual for large icebergs to be
seen close to Innaarsuit.
.
.
"But this iceberg is the biggest we have seen... and there are cracks
and holes that make us fear it can calve anytime," she said, adding
that the village's power station and fuel tanks are close to the shore.
"Nobody is staying unnecessarily close to the beach and all children
have been told to stay in areas that are high up," Eliassen added.
The incident comes weeks after scientists at New York University shot
and released a video of a massive iceberg breaking free from a glacier
in eastern Greenland in June.
An expert warned that extreme iceberg events will become more frequent.
"Iceberg production in Greenland has been increasing in the past 100
years as climate change has become stronger," said William Colgan,
senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.
He said the rising number of icebergs are in turn "increasing the
tsunami hazards" which occur when they break away from a glacier and
trigger a tidal wave.
Last year, four people died and 11 were injured after an earthquake
sparked a tsunami off another island settlement called Nuugaatsiaq,
sending several houses crashing into the sea.
Source China Daily
