Iceland evacuees check on homes after volcano calms

STORY: A great crack in the ground shows where a volcanic eruption threatened the Icelandic fishing town of Grindavik.Though lava flows missed the only town close by.Evacuated residents checked on their homes and collected belongings on Thursday (December 21), returning briefly for the first time since it happened. The 4,000 residents of Grindavik, about 25 miles southwest of the capital Reykjavik, were evacuated in early November because of intense seismic activity. Guthjon Emil Gartharsson doesn't expect to be allowed home imminently.“How this is, I don't think, not soon, but maybe in the future hopefully. But we will just have to see because the crack goes through the town. So, we will just have to see if it's going to survive.”Scientists who flew over the area said lava flows had continued to diminish and no volcanic activity was visible three days after the volcano spewed lava and smoke high into the air.Thorsteinn Einarsson says he'll come home as soon as authorities let him. "My future is here. I will be here and my kids will be here and we are going to do everything we can to make this town good again.”The decreasing lava flows have eased worries of a repeat of the international travel chaos caused by ash from another volcanic eruption on the island in 2010.The Icelandic Meteorological Office said on Thursday it was still too soon to declare the eruption over.