A women’s prison near Naples was evacuated as a precaution Tuesday following a 4.4 magnitude quake with an epicenter at an active volcano west of the southern Italian port city that forced hundreds of residents to sleep in tents or cars. No injuries and only minor damage was reported following the Monday evening temblor.
The quake was the strongest in recorded history around the Phlegraean Fields, a sprawling area of ancient volcanic centers near the Tyrrhenian Sea in a zone that encompasses western neighborhoods of Naples and its suburbs, said Giuseppe De Natale, a volcanologist of Italy’s INGV National Geophysics and Volcanology Center.
During the last major event in 1984, 40,000 residents were evacuated during a period of intense seismic activity as a precaution against a feared eruption that did not occur.
Some 140 inmates at a women's prison in the Pozzuoli suburb were evacuated while officials check the structure for damage. A dozen apartment buildings also were evacuated for structural checks, displacing about 40 families, RAI state TV reported.
Some 150 smaller tremors overnight kept the population on edge. At least 500 people slept in tent cities erected by the civil protection agency, while others stayed in cars. Major traffic jams were reported as people tried to flee the area.
ABC
