Dozens of earthquakes in the Phlegrean Fields sow panic in Naples

The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) reported that the 4.4-magnitude tremor was recorded at 8:10 pm local time (6:10 pm GMT) at a depth of 2.5 kilometers. A 3.5-magnitude earthquake struck minutes before, followed by dozens of aftershocks.

Cracks and cornices fall

Firefighters in the Flaggreen Fields operational zone, home to half a million people, took to social media to report.

Schools will be closed Tuesday in Pozzuoli, where shelters have opened and tents have been set up in a car park and seaside square to accommodate panicked residents, the town’s mayor, Luigi Manzoni, announced on Facebook.

INGV does not rule out further tremors at night.

Revival of volcanic activity

The volcano, which is 15 to 12 km in circumference, has a typical flat bottom left after the eruption. It is the largest active caldera (“cauldron” in Spanish) in Europe, bordering the coastal municipalities of Naples and Bozuoli.

The Bluegreen Fields eruption, which affected the planet’s climate 40,000 years ago, worries locals and scientists due to its resurgence of activity due to gasses released by magma and pressure on the surface through cracks in the ground.

“We always have to live in fear,” a resident of Pozzuoli testified to the public channel ReNews. “We wonder how long buildings last when they experience these shocks, they are not so absorbent. »

“The Earth continues to rise at a rate of two centimeters per month, more than last year, and it looks like it will unfortunately continue,” said Mauro Di Vito, a volcanologist at Canal 21.