The president of the republic marked this Sunday the 25th anniversary of the earthquake in Faial, Pico and São Jorge, which killed eight, in a written message to the president of the regional government of the Azores, asking him to “express his solidarity testify with the victims”.
A note published on the website of the Presidency of the Republic states that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has sent a message to the President of the Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, in which he shares “his direct testimony of 25 years has revoked”. suffered from the earthquake in Faial, which he visited on that occasion, and where he still felt the aftershocks”.
According to the note, Marcelo asked Bolieiro to “express his solidarity with the victims of this earthquake, as well as with the local mayors”.
This morning, the Prime Minister, António Costa, also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the 1998 earthquake in a post on the social network Twitter, paying tribute to the inhabitants of the Azores islands and to the “efficiency of government that exemplary reconstruction”.
On July 9, 1998, an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale struck the north coast of Faial Island, in the Azores, killing eight, injuring 110, leaving more than 1,500 homeless and destroying 70% of the housing stock. in that area was destroyed. Island.
Speaking to Lusa as part of a report on the 25th anniversary of the earthquake, José Contente, current deputy of the PS in the regional parliament and in 1998 regional secretary of Housing and Public Works, recalled the difficulties experienced by the executive that year in temporarily housing people, in a first phase in temporary tents , and later in prefabricated.
“It was necessary to move those people immediately that summer, in terms of temporary relocation. I remember from this distance that there were no prefabricated parts anywhere, the factories were closed during the summer. A team had to come from Canada to assemble this type of prefab,” he says.
25 years later, the former ruler believes that Faial is now “better prepared for phenomena such as the July 9, 1998 earthquake”despite the island being hit once again by another seismic crisis.
According to CIVISA, the Center for Information and Seismovolcanic Surveillance of the Azores, dozens of earthquakes (some of them were felt) have been recorded since the beginning of the week, with the epicenter at sea, west of the municipality of Capelo, exactly opposite the major earthquake, which also occurred at sea just five kilometers from Ponta da Ribeirinha, on the east coast.
“The seismic activity west of the island of Faial is above normal reference values,” says the official website of CIVISA, adding that it follows the evolution of this seismic crisis of tectonic origin, that is, due to the movement of the tectonic plates that traverse the central group of the Azores.
Source: DN
