James Stewart

After the immediate threat is over, so follows more modelling, more barriers and more refinement, and so on and so on, again and again and again.

But the good news is, so far, these models have been incredibly accurate.

Each time Horn and her team have built new barriers or increased the height of current ones, they've very quickly been needed.

But that job does come with tough decisions.

They can't save everything.

In late 2024, lava overran the car park of the famous Blue Lagoon Spa.

This wasn't a failure of defences, but a reminder of priorities.

Newly installed barriers were designed to protect the power station and the spa buildings.

And the car parks?

Well, those were sacrificed.

RIP cars.

For Grintovic, however, the limits are laid bare.

No barrier on earth can protect a town from fissures that open directly beneath the streets.

Beyond this system of physical defences, scientists and authorities are looking at how else they can prepare for a circa 200 year eruptive period.

Plans include everything from relocating electricity masts and burying pipelines deeper within bedrock.

Major road networks are being redesigned to allow for rapid rerouting and AI is being drafted in to further improve forecasting.

Civil protection agencies around the world are closely watching this all unfold.

This is the first time a modern nation has tried to engineer its way through an ongoing volcanic crisis.

If it works, this will become the blueprint for a new form of geological urban defence.

One that fights against the slow, relentless forces of Earth itself.