Thousands of fearful Italians are preparing for a mass evacuation over a possible volcanic eruption after earthquakes shook the region.
Italian government leaders are preparing for an eruption, however unlikely, at Campi Flegrei, a volcanic area near the town of Pozzuoli, outside Naples.
There have been around 500 earthquakes in the area since October, and in late September a magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck the region, followed by another 1,000 smaller ones.
It was the loudest boom in the area in 40 years.
“Do you feel that? There are non-stop earthquakes here,” Luca Averna, a part-time fisherman, recently told the Wall Street Journal while working on his small boat during a magnitude 3.6 tremor this month.
“We’re used to it, but that doesn’t mean we’re not afraid.”
Pozzuoli has more than 70,000 inhabitants. The last time there was an eruption at Campi Flegrei was in 1538 and the earthquakes were linked to signs of subsurface volcanic activity.
View of the Solfatara crater, part of the Campi Flegrei volcano in Pozzuoli, the largest caldera in southern Italy, Campania region. KONTROLAB/LightRocket via Getty Images
“Even those little (tremors) scare us,” Annamaria Scardi, a mother of two, said last month. “We are worried because (we are supposed to) run away. But where are we going? Where? This is the situation. “We are at the limit.”
While experts have said there is no imminent threat of an eruption, there is still cause for concern in Italy that other places with supervolcanoes, such as Yellowstone, need not worry.
“The difference is that in Yellowstone, if you think an eruption is coming, you can send tourists home and close the park for four years,” University of Naples geology professor Alessandro Iannace told the Journal.
Stefania Briganti, a dancer from Milan, observes the sulfuric vapors arising from the Campi Flegrei volcanic region.REUTERS
“You can’t do that with Campi Flegrei. “There are too many people there.”
There is also concern that the activity is causing ground uplift and subsidence that could destabilize buildings.
Authorities have reportedly distributed leaflets titled “I’m not risking it” containing information on how to flee if an eruption occurs soon. Authorities have also outlined escape routes, although locals say traffic would be too congested in the event of a full evacuation.
Residents of the area fear that an eruption could disrupt their daily lives. fake images
“If you want to live in Pozzuoli, you have to learn to live with the volcano,” clothing store manager Roberto Marotta told the newspaper.
“You’re always thinking about it, even when you sleep. “If my wife moves in bed, I jump thinking it’s an earthquake.”
With postal cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn