Earthquakes hit north Iceland and Antarctica

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS

There were two earthquakes in the ocean off the north coast of Iceland last week. The second earthquake measured 5.5 on the Richter scale and residents of Grimsey Island, Husavik and Akureyri felt the earth move.

An earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale also hit a chain of remote Antarctic islands, home to 850,000 King penguins. It was the strongest earthquake in four years.

Penguins appear to have escaped a major disaster as the quake occurred deep under the sea. There were no tsunamis because the quake moved horizontally rather than vertically.

A seismologist said that if the earthquake had happened beneath a city, it would probably have leveled buildings.