Hundreds sleep in the open as tremors strike Azores

Hundreds of mid-Atlantic Azores Islanders slept in the open overnight fearing a major earthquake after 17 tremors were recorded, island authorities said today.

Civil Protection Service spokesman Capt. Serafim Carneiro said no injuries were reported, though the biggest tremor had a preliminary magnitude of 4.

All the tremors were felt by people on Sao Miguel, the largest of the volcanic archipelago’s nine islands.

Many people opted to sleep under blankets and tents in parks and town squares, while dozens of elderly people took shelter in a school gymnasium, Carneiro said in Ponta Delgada, the capital of Sao Miguel. The weather was warm and dry, he said.

Officials said the quakes caused some abandoned houses to collapse and some drystone walls crumbled.

Schools on Sao Miguel were expected to stay closed as a precaution, but Carneiro said most people were returning home this morning as the seismic activity subsided.

“The tremors are starting to fade out now. Things are starting to get back to normal,” he said.

Small earthquakes are common in the Azores, which have a population of about 237,000 people.

The islands are about 930 miles off the west coast of Europe. The last major quake in the Azores, in 1998, killed 10 people and injured about 90.