Italy’s government has been preparing for a possible mass evacuation of tens of thousands of residents due to a supervolcano that has caused 2,500 earthquakes since September, several media outlets reported.
“Even those small ones (quakes) make us afraid,” resident Annamaria Scardi told Reuters. “We are worried because (we are supposed to) run away. But where do we go? Where? This is the situation. We’re on edge.”
“It’s nonstop earthquakes here,” said Luca Averna, perThe Wall Street Journal. “We’re used to it, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t afraid.”
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Italy’s official tourism websitecharacterizes Campi Flegrei as a “dormant supervolcano, one of the few on the earth’s surface.” And according toNBC News, Campi Flegrei’s last eruption took place in 1538.
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A phenomenon known as bradyseism has been attributed to the increase of recent earthquakes in the Campi Flegrei area,The Wall Street Journalreported.
Christopher Kilburn, a professor of volcanology and geophysical hazards at University College London, told NBC News that he thinks that the activity at Campi Flegrei is due to a change in the structure of the volcano’s crust. However, he said, “If there’s a rupture [in the crust], there is no guarantee that magma is going to erupt.”
Meanwhile, the Italian government reviewed the situation last month, per Reuters, and would call for an evacuation if officials feel that buildings could be prone to collapse. Nello Musumeci, a civil protection minister, said that any evacuation would take place only in the event of “extreme necessity,”The Guardianreported.
Resident Vincenzo Russo told Reuters that the threat of eruption has divided his family in that he wants to stay while his wife and children are looking to move to another town. “When you sleep at night, the nightmare is always there. You forget the situation and you’re on the couch, and then the tremor is there with you,” he said.
source: people.com
