Central Azorean islands Faial and São Jorge have been plunged into what seismologists call a full seismic crisis since the beginning of November.
Starting on November 3, there have now been ‘more than a thousand’ tremors all located west of Faial – the largest of which have been between 4 and 5 on the Richter Scale.
Only 19 of the tremors have been felt by local populations,
President of the archipelago’s seismic-volcanic vigilance centre, Rui Marques, tells reporters, stressing there is no reason for alarm..
These are tremors that “do not provoke any kind of damage” and are almost commonplace in this area that sits above three of the world’s large tectonic plates (the North American Place, the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate). All these plates are active. Indeed, the Azores’ geographical position is described as “an active triple junction”, though the last truly damaging quake dates back to 1757, near Calheta on São Jorge, and measured over 7 on the Richter Scale.
