SAO JORGE, Portugal (Reuters) – Seismic activity on the earthquake-hit, mid-Atlantic island of Sao Jorge, in Portugal’s Azores archipelago, remained above normal levels on Thursday, with the number of tremors topping 24,000 since the crisis began nearly two weeks ago.
There are fears the tremors, which have reached a magnitude of up to 3.8 but caused no damage so far, could herald a volcanic eruption for the first time since 1808, or a powerful earthquake.
Eduardo Farias, head of Azores’ Civil Protection authority, said the number of daily earthquakes decreased on Thursday compared to the day before, but said there was no explanation for the drop.
He said the earthquakes’ epicentre was shifting toward the island’s western side, with geologist Jose Madeira telling Portuguese daily i there was a possibility the magma was flowing in that direction.
Although not imminent, Madeira said the probability of an eruption was “very high”. The volcanic alert was raised to Level 4 last week, meaning there is a “real possibility” the volcano could erupt.
The seismic activity in Sao Jorge, home to around 8,400 people, is reminiscent of the earthquakes detected before the first eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on Spain’s La Palma island last September. Sao Jorge’s volcanic system is similar to the one on the Spanish island.
Out of fear, many have already left the island by sea or air while care-home residents and those with reduced mobility have been evacuated to Sao Jorge’s eastern part.
“I feel quite terrified,” retiree Jorge Bettencourt, 69, said as he wandered around Velas.
School technical assistant Cesar Sequeira, 45, has experienced other seismic crises on the island, but said the uncertainty of the current situation was making things harder.
“Maybe people are getting very worried and anxious because they don’t know when it can happen,” he said.
(Reporting by Catarina Demony, Guillermo Martinez and Pedro Nunes in Sao Jorge; Editing by Leslie Adler)
