A strong earth tremor hit Sicily's Mount Etna today, panicking local villagers as itdamaged dwellings and left more than 1,000 people homeless.
The quake, measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale, sent peoplerunning from their homes and offices as Europe's highest and mostactive volcano provided a grim backdrop to the panic, spewing lavaand ash and blackening the daytime sky along Sicily's east coast fora third consecutive day.
The strong tremor struck at 11:02 am (1002 GMT), as authoritiesinsisted that residents had nothing to fear from the volcano itself,saying two slowly advancing streams of lava were still far from eventhe most remote dwellings.
Later today, the Italian government declared a state ofemergency for the region surrounding Mount Etna following anemergency cabinet meeting in Rome.
Vulcanologists said the earthquake was not related to Etna'sactivity, noting that the epicenter was nine kilometers (5.6 miles)underground, far deeper than the pockets of lava that are disgorgingonto the slopes of the volcano, which began erupting overnightSaturday in a spectacular reprise of last year's event.
In Catania, to the south of the volcano, a witness said the tremor rattled buildings and sent office workersscurrying into the street in the city of 350,000 people.
Residents also ran into the streets in the towns of ZafferanaEtnea and Giarre, and children fled school buildings. Schools willremain closed Wednesday and Thursday while damage assessment iscarried out, authorities said.
Civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso and regional authoritieswere Tuesday in Santa Venerina, a town of some 6,600 people whichbore the brunt of the damage, 23 kilometres (15 miles) north ofCatania. Several hundred homes were damaged along with a militarypolice barracks.
Two other tremors, one of which measured 4.1, hit Santa Venerinalate Tuesday sending panicking residents into the streets.
Municipal authorities in the east coast seaside resort ofAcireale requisitioned hotels to house those left homeless by thetremor. Aged and infirm people were treated for shock.
The strongest quake had been followed within an hour by twoother aftershocks of 3.6 and 4.0 respectively.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is to travel to the regionwithin the next few days.
"We are concerned and we are trying to find out if this is asbad as the activity is going to get, followed by a gradual return tonormality, or if we can expect even more worrying developments,"European Affairs Minister Rocco Buttiglione said.
Catania airport in the shadow of Etna will remain closed untilThursday, airport authorities said.
"The lava fronts are slowing down," said Enzo Boschi, head ofthe Italian Geophysics and Vulcanology Institute. "They havestabilized while remaining at elevated levels. That's why we areoptimistic."
He added, however: "I am optimistic, but I cannot make forecastsor give a definitive prediction."Local authorities continued to insist Tuesday that the volcanoposed no danger to people or property."There is no danger to built-up areas or to human life," thedeputy head of Catania prefecture Carmela Florena told AFP.The volcano shot fresh spumes of molten rock and ash skywardsovernight Monday, sending new lava streams down the southeasternflank of the mountain.
Another lava flow threatening the northeastern side of themountain was of greater concern to the authorities after it ignitedforest fires above the mountain village of Linguaglossa.But Florena said the lava stream was "around six kilometres"(four miles) from the mountain town of more than 5,000 residents.
The molten river, which had been flowing downhill at arate of 10 metres (33 feet) a minute yesterday, had descended to an altitudeof 1,500 metres (4,950 feet) on the 3,350 metre-high mountain, stillat least 600 metres higher than the edge of the town.
"The lava has many more kilometres to travel before it begins topose a problem for the population," Bertolaso said.
AFP