The Italian government is devising contingency plans for a potential mass evacuation of tens of thousands of residents living near the Campi Flegrei super volcano situated near Naples. These measures, including building strength assessments following months of recurring earthquakes, will be deliberated during a cabinet meeting, according to an official government statement.
Campi Flegrei, which translates to “burning fields” in Greek, is located approximately 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from Naples and encompasses towns and villages like Pozzuoli, Agnano, and Bacoli, with a combined population exceeding 500,000. It boasts a caldera containing 24 craters and is substantially larger than the nearby Vesuvius, which famously destroyed the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in 79 AD.
In recent weeks, the area has experienced over 1,100 earthquakes, including a magnitude 4.0 tremor earlier this week and a 4.2 magnitude quake last week— the most powerful in the region in four decades. Experts attribute the heightened seismic activity to bradyseism, a phenomenon in which the earth’s surface rises or falls due to the filling or emptying of underground magma chambers.
While most volcanologists assert that an eruption is not imminent, concerns have arisen regarding the impact of the current ground elevation of 1.5 cm (0.59 inches) per month on local structures. Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci emphasized that evacuations would only be enacted in cases of “extreme necessity.”
The cabinet is also expected to allocate additional resources to local civil protection agencies to ensure their prompt response during emergencies and to fund a public awareness campaign. Reports suggest that hospitals in the region will conduct evacuation drills starting Friday to prepare for the possibility of stronger earthquakes or eruptions.
The last time Campi Flegrei experienced a significant series of earthquakes was in the 1980s, leading to the temporary evacuation of roughly 40,000 residents from Pozzuoli. The most recent notable eruption occurred in 1538, while a major eruption occurred 39,000 years ago, potentially contributing to the extinction of Neanderthal man, with traces of its magma found in Greenland, some 4,500 km distant.
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