LISBON, March 27 (Prensa Latina) The municipality of Velas on the Portuguese island of São Jorge, part of the Azores archipelago, recorded more than 14,000 earthquakes in a week, a record, authorities said today.
Of these events, only 197 were noticeable to the population, although all were of low intensity, said the President of the Azores Seismovolcanic Monitoring and Information Center, Rui Marques, this Sunday.
Authorities this week declared volcano alert level V4 (out of five) due to seismic activity and increased safety measures in light of the possibility of a high-intensity earthquake or eruption.
However, the Portuguese government insists that there is no need to evacuate the region and that they are operating on the motto “prepare for the worst and hope for the best”.
The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, assured that the population of the island of São Jorge had no reason to worry and announced that he would travel to the island this Sunday to give confidence.
Despite calls for calm, about two thousand people, about half of Velas’ population, went to the neighboring municipality of Calhetas or fled the island, a decision the regional government sees as the sole and exclusive responsibility of residents themselves.
The government of the Azores has strengthened sea and air links from San Jorge to the island of Pico, 15 kilometers away, and the civil defense advises against non-essential movements in order to avoid additional obstacles to possible assistance to the population.
The island of São Jorge, 54 kilometers long and 6.9 kilometers wide and with almost 9,000 inhabitants, is part of the central group of the Portuguese Azores archipelago and is located in Atlantic waters, more than 1,600 kilometers from the coast of mainland Portugal.
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