Icelanders volunteer to take Syrian refugees into their homes

More than 12,000 Icelanders have signed an open letter on Facebook saying they are ready to welcome Syrian refugees after the island's government said it would only let in a handful.

Icelandic author and professor, Bryndis Bjorgvinsdottir, urged her fellow Icelanders to speak out on the social media platform if they wanted Iceland to take in more Syrian refugees.

The facebook page is titled Kæra Eygló Harðar – Sýrland kallar (Dear Eygló Hard - Syria calls) and is set against the slogan "Just because it isn't happening here doesn't mean it isn't happening."

By Tuesday morning more than 12,000 people had answered her call with many offering to take refugees into their own homes. Iceland has a population of around 330,000 inhabitants.

“I’m a single mother with a 6-year-old son... We can take a child in need. I’m a teacher and would teach the child to speak, read and write Icelandic and adjust to Icelandic society. We have clothes, a bed, toys and everything a child needs. I would of course pay for the airplane ticket,” wrote Hekla Stefansdottir in a post.

Many other respondents offered housing, food, clothes and help integrating into Icelandic society.

“I think people have had enough of seeing news stories from the Mediterranean and refugee camps of dying people and they want something done now,” Bjorgvinsdottir told Icelandic public television RUV.

Iceland's welfare minister Eyglo Hardardottir told RUV that authorities were studying the Facebook offers and would consider increasing the number of refugees accepted under a humanitarian quota, currently capped at 50 for this year and next.

“I have made it clear that I don’t want to name a maximum figure, but that we (will) explore every avenue available in welcoming more refugees,” she said.