Azores on Watch for Large Quake, Eruption as Island Keeps Shaking

Satellite map shows seismic activity at Sao Jorge island after around 1,100 small earthquakes have rattled one of Portugal's mid-Atlantic volcanic islands in less than 48 hours in Azores islands, Portugal. on March 21, 2022. Azore's Seismovolcanic Surveillance and Information Center/ Handout via Reuters

LISBON—A series of multiple small earthquakes that have been rattling a mid-Atlantic Portuguese island for three days could trigger a stronger tremor or a volcanic eruption, experts said on Tuesday, as authorities urged people not to travel there.

The number of earthquakes recorded on the volcanic island of Sao Jorge, in the Azores archipelago, since Saturday afternoon has increased to around 1,800 from an earlier figure of 1,329, said Rui Marques, head of the region’s CIVISA seismo-volcanic surveillance centre.