(Rome) Residents of the volcanic area of the Phlegrean Fields, near Naples, demanded measures on Tuesday to secure their homes after a succession of earthquakes, which caused neither major damage nor casualties, but raised a wave of panic.
” I am scared. I opened my store this morning, but there is no one there, people are afraid,” Gaetano Maddaluno, a 56-year-old hairdresser based in Pozzuoli (south), a coastal town located on the coast, told AFP on Tuesday. epicenter of the tremors. “Building controls are necessary,” he adds.
Since Monday evening, “around 150 earthquakes have been recorded” in this area where half a million people live, said the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV).
A tremor with a magnitude of 4.4 was measured by the INGV, “the most violent” since the start, in 2005, of the current period of resurgence of seismic activity and the phenomenon, described by seismologists of “seismic swarm”, is “the most powerful in the last 40 years”.
Many residents of Pozzuoli and surrounding towns fled their homes following these tremors which caused slight damage to buildings.
“We were very afraid, even if people are used” to earthquakes, an employee of the Diego Vitagliano pizzeria in Pozzuoli told AFP.
“There were a lot of children and most of the customers went out,” she added, referring to “many families in the streets” once the restaurant closed.
“In-depth checks”
The earthquakes were also felt in Naples.
The mayor of the capital of Campania, Gaetano Manfredi, announced the launch of “thorough controls of all public structures […] starting with schools”, during a press conference. He added that he had not yet noted any significant damage.
The 140 inmates of Pozzuoli prison were transferred, as a precaution, to Naples, pending the conclusions of the inspection of the walls, said prefect Michele Di Bari.
Schools in Pozzuoli were closed for inspection, along with 18 businesses, a cemetery and a fish market.
The local population is demanding that these checks be carried out as quickly as possible also on private homes.
“We have to live with fear all the time,” a resident of Pozzuoli testified Monday evening on the public channel Rainews. “How long will buildings be able to hold out with all these tremors? […] They are not made to absorb that much.”
Nella Aprea, also a hairdresser in Pozzuoli, believes that if “action plans are planned” to inspect and consolidate buildings, “the means are insufficient”. “My living room has never been inspected,” laments this 55-year-old woman.
” To live with ”
Dozens of terrified residents spent the night in mobile structures and in tents set up in Pozzuoli and Bacoli by civil protection, receiving water and food packages from the Red Cross.
The mayor of Naples affirmed that the situation was “under control”, despite the risk of aftershocks. “We will probably have to live for months to come” with this seismic situation, he warned, but for the moment, “there is no risk of volcanic eruption”.
Head of government Giorgia Meloni will chair an interministerial meeting on Wednesday to take stock of the situation.
The volcano, which extends over a perimeter of 15 by 12 km, has the typical flat-bottomed depression left after an eruption. This is the largest active caldera (“boiler” in Spanish) in Europe, located on the borders of Naples and Pozzuoli by the sea.
In this region, the Phlegrean Fields are eclipsed by the nearby Vesuvius, which dominates the Bay of Naples and whose eruption wiped Pompeii off the map in the year 79.
The Phlegrean Fields, an eruption of which 40,000 years ago affected the planet’s climate, are worrying local residents and scientists due to a resurgence of its activity due to gases emitted by the magma and which put pressure on the surface by cracking floor.
According to the INGV, however, the speed at which the ground is rising – two centimeters per month – has not changed for the moment. “During the seismic crisis of 1982-84, the ground uplift reached nine centimeters per month,” underlines the institute.
At the time, more than 1,300 tremors were recorded per month, compared to 450 recorded over the last month, the INGV said.