Residents and tourists evacuate into the streets of Campi Flegrei, near Naples, after a 4.4-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday. Photo / AP
Residents and tourists evacuate into the streets of Campi Flegrei, near Naples, after a 4.4-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday. Photo / AP
The surge of seismic activity in Italy this week has seen civil emergency plans and foreign travel advisories stress preparedness for more earthquakes.
A series of earthquakes caused the evacuation of Campi Flegrei, near Naples.
Tourists, residents and the inmates of a women’s prison were moved into temporary shelter in the seaside town of Pozzuoli on Tuesday, according to Euronews.
A 4.4-magnitude tremor was followed by 150 aftershocks, felt throughout Naples.
This prompted Italy to allocate additional funds for strengthening evacuation plans and buildings. But should tourists rethink visits to Naples?
The Pompeii archaeological site is a reminder of the area's volcanic history. Photo / 123rf
Italy’s active volcanoes
The Bay of Naples is world-renowned for its turbulent volcanic history.
The city is on top of a seismic triangle of three volcanic craters: Campi Flegrei, the island of Ischia and Vesuvius, the stratovolcano at the centre of the Vesuvio National Park. The latter is responsible for the area’s best-known attraction, the petrified city of Pompeii.
The eruption of Vesuvius in AD79 buried several Roman settlements south of the bay, the eerie remains of which are still being found.
The region lives in the shadow of another eruption. About 1.5 million people live within the potential fall-out zone. With increased seismic activity, the Italian Government has devised mass evacuation plans in the event of one of these super-volcanoes reawakening.
This month, the region plans to run a test in the area of Campi Flegrei, where half a million people live in “La zona rossa” or red zone. Closer to Vesuvius, Pompeii is outside the zone of concern from Campi Flegrei.
The Department of Civil Protection ( DPC) has drawn a boundary around this zone, which it says is “exposed to the danger of invasion by pyroclastic flows”. That’s the phenomenon thought to have buried Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Despite recent seismic activity, scientists say a new eruption is unlikely to happen soon. However, locals and the Italian Government want to be prepared.
Naples' red zone highlights an area inhabited by 500,000 people at risk in the event of Campi Flegrei's eruption. Photo / Dipartimento della Protezione Civile
Travel advice to tourists
Since this week’s tremor, the DPC has reviewed its emergency planning.
The Italian Government’s English-language website on volcanic risk says the country is home to the same density of volcanoes as Iceland. Those living in or visiting the volcanic zones must be “able to follow the Civil Protection authorities’ instructions on what to do in cases of eruptions and any eventual evacuation operations, if required”.
It says several areas would be prone to the risk of immediate volcanic eruption, mudslides and lethal gas emissions.
This week the UK Foreign Office updated its travel advice to tourists visiting southern Italy.
“National emergency planning has been updated for Vesuvius as well as the Phlegraean fields, an area that remains active and which has experienced tremors in 2024,” it said.
Travellers are advised to follow the instructions of the local authorities in the event of an eruption.
