Something many if you might not know about, and the earthquakes started last Saturday. About 2000 people have already evacuated the island, with the threat level at 4 the top level, as 5 is classed as eruption.
About 12,700 earthquakes were recorded on the island of São Jorge, as part of the crisis that began on March 19, more than double the number of earthquakes recorded in the whole of the archipelago in 2021.
The information was released today by the president of the Azores Seismovolcanic Information and Surveillance Center (CIVISA), after the daily briefing of regional and local authorities, which took place in the village of Velas.
“Right now, for the Manadas fissure system alone, where this seismic crisis has been taking place for about seven days, we have more than twice as many as those recorded in the entire autonomous region of the Azores in 2021,” said Rui Marques.
According to him, there is currently a “decrease in the energy released and, as such, the average magnitude has been decreasing”, which makes people feel less seismicity.
“Right now, we have passed the 12,700 earthquakes already registered, of which 187 were felt by the population and only three since midnight today”, said Rui Marques, adding that the frequency of earthquakes remains “extremely above normal values”. to the Azores” and that the V4 volcanic fin continues to be in force, (out of a total of five), which means “real possibility of eruption”.
The seismovolcanic crisis in São Jorge started at 16:05 on the 19th, with the most energetic earthquake occurring that same day at 18:41 with a magnitude of 3.3 on the Richter scale, but causing damage.
According to provisional data from the 2021 Census, the island of São Jorge has 8,373 inhabitants, of which 4,936 are in the municipality of Velas and 3,437 in the municipality of Calheta.