{"id":271839,"date":"2025-07-18T10:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T10:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/271839\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T10:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T10:52:13","slug":"earthquake-hits-naples-like-a-bomb-with-people-fleeing-into-the-streets-as-city-is-rocked-by-its-most-powerful-tremors-in-40-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/271839\/","title":{"rendered":"Earthquake hits Naples ‘like a bomb’, with people fleeing into the streets as city is rocked by its most powerful tremors in 40 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most powerful earthquakes<\/a> to hit Naples in decades has rocked the Italian city and surrounding region ‘like a bomb’, sending people running into the streets.<\/p>\n

Local residents\u00a0reported hearing a ‘roar’ and feeling a ‘strong tremor’ as the 4.6-magnitude quake struck at around 9.15am.<\/p>\n

The epicentre of the earthquake was just off the coast of the highly active\u00a0Phlegraean Fields, a volcanic caldera west of the city, at a depth of 1.5 miles.<\/p>\n

Multiple people living nearby in the seaside town of Bagnoli said it ‘seemed like a bomb’ had gone off when the quake hit.<\/p>\n

It measured the same magnitude as an earthquake recorded in the region on March 13, the strongest to hit the region in 40 years.<\/p>\n

‘We rocked a lot… I’m still shaking,’ one woman, living in the Vomero district of the city, told La Repubblica.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another local, who lives in the western Fuorigrotta suburb, described the experience as ‘terrifying’.<\/p>\n

Rail traffic has been temporarily suspended in the city, which is home to more than 900,000 people.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A powerful earthquake has rocked the Italian city of Naples and the surrounding region. File image shows the city with Mount Vesuvius in the background<\/p>\n

Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n

No injuries or significant damage have been reported so far, with emergency services assessing he situation in various municipalities this morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tremors are part of a seismic swarm, with observers detecting a dozen since just before 9 o’clock this morning and warning that more events cannot be ruled out.<\/p>\n

The Vesuvius Observatory also recorded a series of small earthquakes overnight, each no greater than magnitude-1.<\/p>\n

The temblor, of the same magnitude as one that occurred in March and May 2024, was the strongest since the region began scientifically recording quakes some 40 years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The most violent earthquake to hit the southern Italian city in recent times – a 6.9-magnitude earthquake in November 1980 – claimed 2,734 lives.<\/p>\n

The devastating quake also injured more than 8,800 people and laid waste to more than 300 municipalities.<\/p>\n

The March 13 earthquake which struck the city was initially recorded as being a magnitude of 4.4, but this was later revised to 4.6.<\/p>\n

The powerful quake, which struck overnight, lasted about 20 seconds and awoke the entire city and large parts of the surrounding region.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rubble <\/p>\n

Rubble falls from buildings, crushing a vehicle below, after the powerful quake hit the Naples area early this morning<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The powerful quake lasted about 20 seconds and awoke the entire city and large parts of the surrounding region<\/p>\n

\"Rubble <\/p>\n

Rubble is seen on the pavement after falling from the cornices of buildings in the Bagnoli district<\/p>\n

Firefighters in the western municipality of Pozzuoli pulled an injured woman from the rubble after the ceiling in her house collapsed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There was damage to homes and cars as rocks fell from the facades of the city’s old buildings.<\/p>\n

As with this morning’s quake, the epicentre was recorded in the Phlegraean Fields area, beneath which there Europe’s largest active volcanic caldera – the hollow left after an eruption.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Phlegraean Fields is an area of ancient volcanos which is seismically and volcanically active.<\/p>\n

Seismologists have said the latest earthquakes in the\u00a0Phlegraean Fields area are part of a ‘bradyseismic crisis’ – which sees the earth slowly rise and fall and has been ongoing since 2005.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This happens when magma and gas build up underground, pushing the surface up or letting it sink back down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Experts say the increase in earthquake activity usually proceeds volcanic eruptions, as underground pressure builds up.<\/p>\n

Small quakes can weaken the rock above the volcano’s magma chamber, making it easier for magma to push through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most powerful earthquakes to hit Naples in decades has rocked the Italian city and surrounding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-271839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114873863199580048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}