They are 120 earthquakes preliminarily detected in the area of Campi Flegrei where, since 1:57, a seismic swarm has been underway. The events have a magnitude between 0 and 3.6, as communicated by the Vesuvius Observatory to the municipal administration of Pozzuoli.
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"Campania is a fragile and delicate territory. We need to have a culture of coexistence with risk." Speaking is the regional director of Civil Protection of Campania, Italo Giulivo, referring to the seismic swarm that in these hours has returned to alarm the residents in the Campi Flegrei area.
This morning Giulivo immediately contacted the Vesuvian Observatory of the Eng. and with the director, Mauro Di Lieto, he took stock of the situation. “The swarm – he explains – is placed in a well-known and evolutionary scenario, within the volume where all previous swarms have already occurred”.
“We contacted the firefighters of the Municipality of Naples and the Municipality of Pozzuoli to verify if there was any damage, but at the moment there is nothing to worry about”. Giulivo, recently, at the request of the mayor of Pozzuoli, Louis Manzoni, had met with the head of Civil Protection, Fabrizio Curcio, the citizens of Campi Flegrei to answer their questions about these months of accentuated bradyseism.
Furthermore, the phenomenon is also at the center of a campaign, 'I don't risk', that the regional Civil Protection has adopted to spread best practices and tools to deal with complex scenarios as citizens, such as those of an emergency due to natural disasters.
Earthquakes in Campi Flegrei, fear among residents
“I don't know how to explain, it's like a pot boiling. We feel it rising, getting closer and closer, running and then exploding. We feel it from far away that a shock is coming”. A woman explained, who then called her elderly mother Nicoletta, who is nearby and lives with a carer.
“He doesn't walk anymore and every time I think about what to do if he really has to escape”, he emphasizes. But “the lady didn't notice anything”, Sofia, the Bulgarian girl who looks after her, reassures her. Luca and Ciro work on a construction site near Cumana in Happy Arch. They are actually in charge of measuring the differences in height of buildings, one in particular, which was even damaged by the 1980 earthquake. The first is in Pozzuoli, the other in Naples.
“I heard the roar, I call it the bang, but this morning it was very strong”, says Luca. And then “the water boils”. It is the water that surrounds the Temple of Serapis, which is located in the port of Pozzuoli and whose level rises and falls depending on the level of bradyseism. Residents say that it boils when a strong earthquake is preparing.
“Our grandparents said it and we are afraid” explains Lucio, who is a fisherman and sells from a kiosk on the roadside: “Bubbles, it means it rises and falls”. No scientific proof, mind you, but he's not the only one in the area who relies on that signal. “We are on a volcano, we know we live hanging”, says Tonio.
A former sailor: “We are made of dust and sulfur”
He is a former sailor, he worked for years between Procida and Ischia and “then every time I came back I realized we were in danger”. But the children and the children's children (he has six grandchildren) have decided to stay where they were born. “We are made of dust and brimstone”, philosophical comment.
Article published on 18 August 2023 - 14:20
