Volcanologists search for answers as an island in Portugal’s Azores continues to shake

Azores prepares for potential natural disaster Volcanologists monitor soil gases for volcanic activity President of Portugal visits the island Mobilizes soldiers to São Jorge to set up evacuation tents

São Jorge, Portugal, March 27 (Reuters) – Fatima Vivieros was a little girl when she decided to become a volcanologist. It was a dream come true, and now, at 44, she is using her skills to protect her home in the Portuguese Azores.

The lush, volcanic island of São Jorge in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, where it originated, has been hit by more than 14,000 small earthquakes in the past seven days.

Vivieros and other experts fear the tremors, which measured 3.3 on the Richter scale, could trigger a volcanic eruption for the first time since 1808, or a powerful earthquake. Read more

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“My home is on an active volcanic system,” said Vivieros, who works at the CIVISA Volcanic Seismic Monitoring Center in the area.

“When[something happens]in our house, we have to be a little cold-blooded, so that our feelings don’t affect our thinking,” she added. “But the feelings are there because it’s my home, my people.”

Vivieros had on her back a yellow instrument for measuring soil gases in São Jorge.

Soil gases, such as carbon dioxide and sulfur, are indicators of volcanic activity, and Viveiros and her team struggled for rainy days and strong winds in São Jorge to search for answers. So far, levels remain normal.

The sudden increase in the island’s seismic activity is reminiscent of earthquakes detected prior to the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma last year, about 1,400 kilometers (870 mi) southeast of the Azores.

Over the course of 85 days, this eruption destroyed thousands of properties and crops. Read more

Vivieros, who traveled to La Palma at the time to support the Canary Islands Volcano Institute and monitor soil gases there, said the volcanic system on São Jorge was similar to that on the Spanish island.

“One of the possible scenarios on the table is that we see something similar to what happened in La Palma,” she added.

Fatima Vivieros brings her soil gas monitoring equipment in Roses near Vilas where small earthquakes were recorded on the island of São Jorge, Azores, Portugal, March 27, 2022. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes

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‘disturbance’

Vivieros said teams of Spanish and other international experts were ready to travel to São Jorge if needed.

CIVISA raised the volcanic alert level to 4 on Wednesday, which means there is a “real possibility” that the volcano will erupt. Read more

Jose Bolero, president of the Azores, an autonomous region in Portugal, said the number of earthquakes that struck São Jorge in recent days was double that recorded in the region as a whole last year.

“There is clearly an anomaly,” he told reporters.

Although authorities said an eruption was not imminent, about 1,500 people have left the island by air or sea in recent days. Many have no idea when they will be able to return. Read more

Arriving by helicopter, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visited Sao Jorge on Sunday for a briefing on the situation and calming the locals. He also visited a historic tower that survived the 1808 eruption.

Later on Sunday, Rebelo de Sousa interacted with locals in Calheta, a town in the eastern part of the island where people have sought safety. Most of the seismic activity took place on the western side of São Jorge.

Drinking the traditional Azure spirit, he kissed and hugged members of the crowd and took selfies with them.

Dozens of soldiers are mobilized to São Jorge where they are staying in large tents with beds that can accommodate 100 people in the event of an evacuation. The municipalities of São Jorge have also converted many facilities into temporary reception centres.

As soldiers work behind him, Major Rodolfo Romero told Reuters that more resources will be sent to the island next week.

“Our job is to help the population,” Romero said. In these cases the motive (for the armed forces) is greater.”

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Additional reporting by Catarina Dimoni, Guillermo Martinez, Pedro Nunes. Edited by Praveen Shar and Paul Simao

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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