UPDATED: Jail, some homes evacuated over Campi Flegrei quakes in Naples
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Inspections following the earthquakes that started late on Monday in the area of the Campi Flegrei volcanic caldera near Naples led to 39 families being evacuated from their homes in 13 buildings in Pozzuoli on Tuesday. Furthermore, Campania Prisons Superintendent Lucia Castellano has announced that 140 inmates in Pozzuoli’s women’s prison will all be evacuated too as a precautionary measure. The prison was among the buildings in the area to suffer damage, with cracks appearing in some and chunks of masonry falling away, and the female prisoners will be temporarily held at other jails in the region. The authorities set up a reception area at sports centre in the Monterusciello district of Pozzuoli, where 80 spooked people slept overnight, while many others spent the night in their cars. Nevertheless, many local residents complained about the chaos that followed the seismic activity, which has featured some 160 quakes since Monday evening, including a 4.4 magnitude one that was the strongest to hit the area over 40 years. “I don’t know what would have happened if it had happened during the day and the schools were open,” said one resident. “The panic is likely to cause more damage than the earthquake”. Schools will be closed on Tuesday in Pozzuoli and other towns in the area on Tuesday as a precautionary measure. The Campi Flegrei area, also known the Phlegrean Fields in English, is currently affected by bradyseism, or ground uplift, and the seismic activity in the volcanic zone has led to fears of harm to people and property.
The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) noted that “seismic activity,” INGV adds, “is not a predictable phenomenon, so it cannot be ruled out that other seismic events, even with similar energy to those already recorded during the ongoing swarm, may occur.”
The region of Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) Monday. The region is home to a caldera, a cauldron-shaped depression left behind by the eruption of a very large volcano.
The one in Campi Flegri is the largest in Europe and last erupted in 1538. A new explosion would put half a million inhabitants at risk.
Experts at INGV have warned authorities and residents that tremors could intensify in the near future as seismic activity continues. However, they have clarified that the intensity of the tremors doesn’t imply an increased or imminent risk of a new eruption.
