Authorities on a mid-Atlantic Portuguese volcanic island hit by thousands of small earthquakes in recent days are drawing up plans to evacuate people in case the situation worsens.
Since Saturday, about 2,000 quakes have been recorded on Sao Jorge in the Azores archipelago, Luis Silveira, mayor of the municipality of Velas, told reporters.
There are fears the earthquakes, with a magnitude of between 1.6 and 3.3, could trigger a stronger tremor or a volcanic eruption, according to the region's CIVISA seismo-volcanic surveillance centre.