"We could be in for the long haul," said Víðir Reynisson, Department Manager of the Civil Protection Department, in an interview with mbl.is after a meeting with locals in Ljósvetningabúð, some 30 kilometers away from the northeastern town of Húsavík.

He points out that geologists have been speculating whether Iceland is heading into another long period of intense volcanic and seismic activity, not unlike the Kröflueldar, a nine-year period between 1975 and 1984 where seismic and volcanic activity in Iceland intensified greatly.

"If that is the case, we might have to reconsider the way we conduct civil protection as a whole in Iceland." The Civil Protection Department, the Coast Guard, police, the Crisis Coordination Center and other bodies of civil protection in Iceland have been in a state of varying alert for 12 days, since seismic activity in Bárðarbunga started. If the present situation will persist, some form of a long term plan would be required.