The earth shook again in Naples on Sunday. Smaller earthquakes were mainly felt in the underground Phlegraean Fields area. They are considered super volcanoes. How does evacuation work in an emergency?
Earthquakes have rocked areas west of Naples frequently for more than two years. Does the earthquake indicate that an eruption is about to occur? The yellow alert level has been reconfirmed. What happens when a traffic light turns red is done routinely. Because then more than half a million people would have to be evacuated.
The emergency was called: Phlegraean Field eruption. They are considered super volcanoes. If there is a threat of an outbreak, the motto is: Just get out of here. The affected Naples district then had to be evacuated within 48 hours.
Command center during an evacuation drill
“Simulating panic and fear is not easy”
In the last exercise, the gathering point for residents of the Chiaia neighborhood was the port. Students act as citizens. Everything felt like a school trip.
It was not an easy task for civil defense officer Giuseppe Scuotto who was supposed to bring the class to port. “This is certainly one of the most important aspects of this exercise. Simulating stress, panic and fear is not easy,” he said.
About 550,000 people will be affected. Also a student of Sveva Aiardo. He said: “I live in Bagnoli, in the middle of the Phlegraean Fields, there is a lot of fear. But panic just makes things worse.”
Living with danger
The students took a bus to the port. He was escorted by police so he could pass through busy city traffic. In an emergency, the military will close the roads in Naples.
“You try to live in danger,” said trainee Emanuela Lopez, “but always with the fear that it could happen from one moment to the next.”
This is the desired side effect of this exercise: to make people aware: You live on a volcano. And next to a volcano. In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the neighboring city of Pompeii.
“At that time there was no civil protection, no means of monitoring the volcano, and no emergency planning,” said regional civil protection chief Italo Giulvio. He sees that Italy is currently better prepared than when Vesuvius erupted. “We have all these resources now, so we need to make sure that everyone knows and understands what scenarios the scientific community believes are possible for this field.”
Super volcano near Naples
The Phlegraean Fields (Italian: Campi Flegrei – burned fields) are a geologically active region west of Naples.
The underground volcanic area covers more than 150 square kilometers, most of it under the sea, some of it under the densely populated suburbs of Naples. Some of them are classified as supervolcanoes. Its most famous crater is Solfatara Pozzuoli.
The most powerful eruption at Campi Flegrei occurred between 40,000 and 15,000 years ago, but volcanic activity continued in the following centuries.
High seismic activity
The Phlegraean fields lie underground and beneath the sea. They are significantly more active than neighboring Vesuvius. Its most famous crater is Solfatara Pozzuoli. Steam containing sulfur rises from the ground here. This is one of the places continuously monitored by the National Institute of Volcanology.
“Seismic activity in this area is high. Every time there is an earthquake of magnitude above 1.5, the control center will call me. So often I really can’t sleep,” said the Director of the Institute of Volcanology, Lucia Pappalardo.
The earth has been shaking regularly for more than two years
The earth shook frequently in and around Naples for more than two years. A sign that the volcano is moving. Another indication: the land surface is rising slowly, by two centimeters per month. That’s why an amber alert is in effect in this region: increased vigilance.
Pappalardo explained: “People will turn orange if the signal shows that the magma is starting to move. That is, the magma is no longer at a depth of six to eight kilometers as it is now, but is starting to rise to the surface.”
If the alarm light turns red, you must evacuate immediately. This case was practiced in Naples. The group of students with Giuseppe Scuotto arrived at the meeting point at the port on time. Naples Civil Defense employees are satisfied. “The guys have been registered and are now ready to board the ship – so everything is going according to plan.”
The plan is for the two ships to then leave the port. One to Sicily, the other to Sardinia. Even though this time it was just training, Napoli seemed ready to face the worst possibility.
