Massive iceberg drifts off, threatens Greenland village

9:35 pm on 14 July 2018

A huge iceberg has drifted close to a village in western Greenland, prompting a partial evacuation in case it calves and the resulting wave swamps homes.

An iceberg behind houses and buildings after it grounded outside the village of Innarsuit, an island settlement in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland.

Photo: AFP

The iceberg is looming over houses on a promontory in the Innaarsuit village but is grounded and did not move overnight, local media say.

Local officials say they have never seen such a big iceberg before.

Last summer, four people died after waves swamped houses in northwestern Greenland after an earthquake.

Those of Inaarsuit's 169 residents living nearest the iceberg have been moved, Danish news agency Ritzau said.

"There are cracks and holes that make us fear it can calve anytime," village council member Susanne Eliassen told the local newspaper Sermitsiaq.

The village's power station and fuel tanks are close to the shore, she said.

Some experts have warned that extreme iceberg events risk becoming more frequent because of climate change. This in turn increases the risk from tsunamis.

In June New York University scientists released video footage of a massive iceberg breaking away from a glacier in eastern Greenland.