Seismic crisis in Terceira: Azorean government calls for calm and guarantees means to react
The Government of the Azores appealed this Thursday for calm after the increase in the alert level for the Santa Bárbara volcano, on the island of Terceira, and assured that entities are prepared to react in the event of a seismovolcano crisis. only gets worse.
“It is important at this moment to find tranquility and the normality possible in a context of seismovolcanic crisis, making sure that we are more prepared than in the past. The Santa Bárbara volcano has never been so closely monitored”, declared the Secretary of Environment and Climate Action, Alonso Miguel, who oversees Civil Protection.
The alert level for the Santa Bárbara volcano, in Terceira, has risen to V3 and that of the island’s fissure volcanic system to V1, due to seismic activity, according to the Information and Surveillance Center Azores Seismovolcanic Agency (CIVISA).
At volcanic alert levels, V0 means “state of rest” and V6 “eruption in progress”, according to the information available on the CIVISA website. Level V3 confirms the reactivation of the volcanic system, with signs of high activity.
The regional secretary, who was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the statutory visit of the Azorean executive (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) to the island of Corvo, justified the increase in the alert level with the confirmation of the existence of crustal deformation and “geophysical and geodynamic indicators well above normal”.
“This new circumstance does not alter the ongoing procedures in any way, nor does it currently induce special procedures”, stated Alonso Miguel.
Asked about the implications of the largest hospital in the region being inoperative if the seismovolcanic crisis worsens, the government official guaranteed that “all means available to Civil Protection will be activated if there is justification”.
“We will be prepared to give the best possible response”, he promised.
Alonso Miguel, however, reiterated the call for calm, remembering that “this type of phenomenon can last for months or years”.
“In São Jorge we had a year and a half on V3 alert. Therefore, it is not worth creating social alarm. It is important to be vigilant and carry out monitoring and intensify coordination between all entities”, he defended.
According to the Institute of Volcanology of the University of the Azores (IVAR), the information obtained through the monitoring network managed by CIVISA makes it possible to determine that the seismovolcanic crisis recorded on the island of Terceira since 24 of June 2022 “is maintained, showing signs of clear increase”.
Within the scope of this crisis, seismic activity has been centered “with greater incidence within the perimeter of the Santa Bárbara volcano and has been essentially characterized by the occurrence of microseisms”.
