Fear plays a part - Naples worried about a super volcano
The Montefusco Spinesi sports ground is not the kind of place where big successes are celebrated. An artificial pitch in a suburb of Naples, more black than green, thick plastic tarpaulins behind the goal, the stands simply concrete. A pitch like many in Italy.
What makes Montefusco Spinesi so special is that soccer is played here in the middle of what is probably Europe's most dangerous volcano. On this evening, clouds of smoke are rising from the ground nearby. It smells of rotten eggs. People are used to it. But their worries have grown considerably of late.
For months, the densely populated region in the west of the city of millions has been shaken by small and large earthquakes: more than 1500 since the beginning of September alone. Usually just a tremor lasting a few seconds, sometimes accompanied by a rumbling underground, without anything major happening so far. But the most violent quake had a magnitude of 4.2, which many residents fear is a sign of an eruption. Gerardo Cerino (55), who is watching his son at soccer training, says: "I grew up here. But for a few weeks now, the fear has been there."
The danger in the ground
The area here has the danger in its name: Campi Flegrei. Literally translated: Burning fields. With a little more restraint, science has turned it into the Phlegraean Fields. The local volcano is not a well-formed mountain like Vesuvius, which has dominated Naples' panorama so beautifully since its spectacular eruption at Pompeii in 79. On the Campi Flegrei, the danger lies dormant in the ground, you can't see it: a 150 square kilometer area of dents and craters, largely hidden in the sea.
On the mainland, the risk can best be sensed in the port city of Pozzuoli, a few kilometers from the soccer pitch. On the Solfatara crater field, the earth bubbles away, smoke billows upwards, the water vapor is mixed with carbon dioxide and sulphur - hence the rotten-egg smell. Until a few years ago, the Solfatara was a tourist attraction. Since 2017, when a couple with an eleven-year-old son died in the field, it has been a restricted area. The spectacle can now only be viewed from a hill. Next to it is a luxury hotel with a view far out to sea.
39,000 years ago, this was the scene of the largest volcanic eruption on the European continent in the last hundred thousand years. At that time, almost all life was destroyed in large parts of what is now southern Italy. The ash flew as far as what is now Russia. The name supervolcano for the Campi Flegrei has its justification from these times. Supervolcanoes are characterized by a particularly large magma chamber and enormous violence: Unlike normal volcanoes, they literally explode.
The last eruption on the Campi Flegrei was almost half a millennium ago in 1538, when the ground was gradually raised by several meters over a period of 70 years due to magma surges. The scenario is the same today: the ground has been arching again for seven decades. In Pozzuoli, this can be seen from the fact that the quay wall in the port is a few meters higher than it used to be: fishermen have difficulty reaching it from their boats.
Increased vigilance since 2012
At the observatory of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (IGNV) in Naples, everything is monitored closely: the quakes, the rise and fall of the ground, the composition of the smoke. Geophysicist Giovanni Macedonio is standing at one of the screens. "This is probably the best-observed volcano in the world," says the 64-year-old. Based on the data, most experts expect the ground to continue to bulge. Meaning: more tension, more cracks, more fractures, more quakes. Until at some point it might become too much.
But nobody knows when, what or whether anything will happen at all. It doesn't have to be an eruption. It is also possible that there will be a major earthquake or a steam explosion in the middle of the city with serious consequences. But it is also conceivable that the supervolcano will almost completely calm down again. Either way, Macedonio is confident that the population can be brought to safety in good time if the worst comes to the worst. 48 hours should be enough to evacuate more than 360,000 people living in the immediate danger zone.
The region has been on yellow alert - heightened vigilance - since 2012. Following the many quakes in recent months, there is now speculation that it will soon be raised to orange. The civil protection minister of the Italian right-wing government, Nello Musumeci, has already hinted at this. It has already been decided in Rome that the civil protection for the Campi Flegrei will receive an additional 52 million euros.
In the neighborhood, people are preparing for safety. Housewife Silvana Di Dio (36) is one of those who have already packed a suitcase. It's in the hallway at home. "Just the bare essentials: clothes, medication, cosmetics. We'll be ready to leave in ten minutes," says the mother of two. The parish of San Gennaro on the Solfatara has also made provisions. The church door now remains open during services. This is so that the faithful can get outside more quickly if something happens.
Source: www.dpa.com
