12 Earthquakes on El Hierro since midnight

 

Scientists from the National Geographic Institute (IGN) observing the seismic activity on and around el Hierro have reported that 12 earthquakes were recorded between 00.00 hrs and 12.00 hrs GMT today.

As with recent days and weeks, almost all activity was located in the El Golfo bay area, to the north-west of the town of Frontera on the north coast of the Island. The depths of the earthquakes varied from 16 to 23 km and the magnitudes range from 1.6 to 3.4 on the richter scale.

The strongest of the quakes was felt by the population as 08.52 GMT at a depth of just 17km.

`Volcano tourism´on the Island stepped up a gear yesterday, with the President of the Cabildo de El Hierro and the Island´s Chief Tourism officer welcoming the Kristina Katarina cruise ship, where Finnish tourists were keen to see the jacuzzi resulting from the underwater volcanic eruption bubbling up to the surface off the coast of La Restinga to the south of the island.

Residents of La Restinga were also last night allowed to return to their homes after being evacuated on November 5th. Residents estimate that the crisis had cost them around 4 million euros in lost earnings from the island's hotels, restaurants and diving schools, although business had picked up in recent days with increasing numbers of people traveling in order to look at the volcano, as its underwater eruption, visible from the shore.

Read further news stories about the El Hierro Volcano by clicking the link HERE .