The Portuguese island of São Jorge (The Azores) remains on alert due to the intense seismic activity since last Saturday and with rash riskhas everything ready in case it were necessary to evacuate the 5,500 people from the Velas council, the area most affected by the tremors.
This was explained today by the mayor of Velas, Luís Silveira, who offered a press conference together with the president of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, and the president of the Archipelago Seismovolcanic Surveillance and Information Center (CIVISA), Rui Marques.
“The corridors of the six freguesías (towns) of the Velas council are defined up to the buildings” that would receive the people who have to be evacuated, said the alderman.
volcanic alert
Since last Wednesday, the volcanic alert in San Jorge Island reached level V4which is lower than the one declared (V5) when the volcanic eruption is unleashed.
The number of earthquakes so far this Friday is well above normal and in the last few hours the population has felt a total of five.
Bolieiro explained at the press conference that the island has been reinforced with four doctors, five nurses and a psychologist, in case there is a major earthquake or a volcanic eruption.
Alternative plan
In principle, the 5,500 people who had to be evacuated from Velas would stay in the other council on the island, Calheta, where around 3,000 people live.
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The Government of the Azores has reinforced by sea and air the connections of San Jorge with the island of Pico, 15 kilometers away, and Civil Protection Disadvises travel non-essential for San Jorge to avoid additional obstacles in an eventual relief to the population.
The island of São Jorge, 54 kilometers long and 6.9 kilometers wide, is part of the Central Group of the Portuguese archipelago of Azores located in Atlantic waters, more than 1,600 kilometers from the coast of continental Portugal.