Volcanic and seismic activity in Iceland
Travelling to Iceland is as safe as ever. A statement from the Icelandic Tourist Board details the limited impact the ongoing volcanic activities have had in Iceland. If you would like to see the eruption for yourselves, you can view the eruption live from Eyjafjallajökull.
For further information, please read the frequently asked questions of our meteorological office and the updates on latest activity. The WHO has issued a statement that the ash poses no health risk beyond close proximity to the volcano. Reykjavik lies 130 km to the west of Eyjafjallajokull. Some symptoms may be found by those directly in the ash plume but they are mild and pose no long term threat. To date no ash has fallen in the Reykjavik area.

Some trivia on Icelandic geological phenomena:
• Iceland sits on the intersection of two tectonic plates that are moving apart, the American and the European plates. This makes for smallish earthquakes (maximum around 7 on the Richter scale) and active volcanos.
• All buildings in Iceland are built to withstand this. In the years 2000 and 2008 three earthquakes believed to be typical large earthquakes (around 6.5 on the Richter scale) occurred. In these earthquakes there were no fatalities, no-one was seriously injured, and no house collapsed.
• Iceland has a volcanic eruption on average every three years. The volcanos are mostly safely tucked away in the uninhabitable center of the country. During the last 50 years there have been no fatalities directly caused by volcanic eruptions in Iceland.

Conference fee refund
If you cannot come to the conference because of flights being cancelled due to the eruption, we guarantee full refund of the conference registration fee.

Hotel booking refund
Regarding hotel bookings, during the recent disruption people have been charged either nothing or for one night, in case they have not shown up (even if the booking has not been cancelled). We assume this will be the practice for us. Of course if you know that you are not coming, please inform the hotel as soon as you can.

Flight ticket refund
We have been investing Council of Europe regulations on passanger rights in case of flight cancellations due volcanic ash, and we have also been in contact with the Icelandic Aviation Administration for confirmation. In case of cancelled flights to their destination passengers have a right to a rerouted travel if this is possible, or to refund of the air tickets for the entire trip. If flights are cancelled after the trip has started (or the flight back home is cancelled) passangers have a right a rerouted travel without cost. These rights apply even if the trip originates outside Europe as long as the air carrier has an operating license in Europe. Thus it is adviseable to buy tickets for the entire travel in one purchase if possible.

See you at PARA 2010 !