STOCKHOLM, July 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A massive iceberg drifting near the
coast of 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 Innarsuit island settlement
with houses on a promontory to move away from the shore over fears that the
iceberg, which was spotted on Thursday, could swamp the area.
“We fear the iceberg could calve and send a flood towards 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 do to next,” Kunuk Frediksen, a police chief in the Danish autonomous
territory, told AFP.
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.
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.