Naples shaken by 4.0-magnitude quake, motorists warned of heavy traffic as Italy’s peak holiday season ends, and more news this Monday.
Naples and Campi Flegrei shaken by 4.0-magnitude quake
A 4.0-magnitude earthquake struck Italy’s volcanic region of Campi Flegrei and the nearby city of Naples on Monday, leaving residents shaken but causing no immediate damage.
The quake hit the area at 4.55am, according to Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). Its epicentre was located in Pozzuoli, west of Naples, at a depth of 0.3 kilometres.
The tremor, which was clearly felt across Naples’s city centre, caused dozens of Pozzuoli residents to run into the streets.
There were no reports of damage or injuries following the quake, but structural checks were ongoing on Monday morning, according to Italian media reports.
Located just west of Naples, the Campi Flegrei area has experienced intense seismic activity in recent months due to a phenomenon known as ‘bradyseism’ – the slow, vertical movement of the Earth’s surface due to changes in volume affecting the underlying magma and hot gases.
The region, which is home to approximately half a million people, is a volcanic caldera – a large depression that forms when a volcano collapses into itself following a major eruption.
Mauro Antonio Di Vito, director of the INGV’s Vesuvius Observatory, told La Repubblica that the quake was “consistent with the ongoing bradyseismic crisis”.
“Ground uplift continues at a rate of 1.5 centimetres per month in this area, creating stress in the rocks, which then fracture and cause earthquakes,” he added.
Advertisement
Motorists warned of heavy traffic as Italy’s peak holiday season ends
Motorists on Italian roads have been warned to expect heavy traffic on Monday, as large numbers of holidaymakers prepare to travel back home after the August holidays.
Monday morning is expected to be the worst time to hit the road, as traffic is forecast to reach “potentially critical” levels, according to Italy’s state police.
“Intense” congestion is expected throughout the rest of the day, with traffic forecast to return to normal conditions by the early hours of Tuesday, September 2nd.
Motorways and state roads connecting popular holiday destinations to major cities are the most likely to see heavy traffic on Monday.
Advertisement
These include the A1 (Naples-Milan) and A14 (Taranto-Bologna) motorways, and state roads 16 (Otranto-Padua) and 7 (Brindisi-Rome).
Italy’s state road infrastructure company, Anas, has also warned of potential heavy traffic along border crossings towards France, Slovenia, and Croatia.
EU must ‘explore all avenues’ to use frozen Russian assets: foreign policy chief
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Saturday that the bloc should consider all available options to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction after the war.
The EU froze around €200 billion in Russian Central Bank assets following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The majority of funds are currently held by Euroclear, an international securities depository based in Belgium.
Advertisement
EU ministers have acknowledged “the need to address Ukraine’s financing gap and hold Russia accountable for war damages,” Kallas told reporters following a foreign policy summit in Denmark.
“To achieve this, it is crucial to explore all available avenues while minimising the potential risks,” she added.
Last year, the EU used the interest earned on the frozen Russian assets to bankroll a $50 billion loan to Ukraine. But several EU member states have since urged the European Commission to do more to unlock the assets, with some calling for their outright confiscation.
“Given the devastation that Russia has caused in Ukraine so far, it is unthinkable that it will ever see this money again unless it fully compensates Ukraine for the damages caused,” Kallas said.