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The supervolcano of the Phlegraean Fields has been trembling almost non-stop for months. Now the Maradona Stadium in Naples has suffered structural damage. There is a barrier.
Naples/Pozzuoli – The supervolcano in the caldera of the Phlegraean Fields in southern Italy continues to cause unrest in the port city of Pozzuoli and in the west of Naples. On Monday (May 13th), residents of the red zone were woken from their sleep at half past three by a magnitude 2.9 earthquake. Already on Friday, two consecutive earthquakes of magnitude 3.6 and 3.7 shook people. It was relatively quiet on Saturday (May 11th), but there were three shocks of 1.5 and 1.7 on Sunday. Again the tremors were accompanied by a resounding thunder.
The earthquakes in the caldera of the supervolcano are eating away at the structure of buildings everywhere
Structural engineers are currently checking all buildings within the red zone, where half a million people live. After thousands of tremors, there is a risk of material fatigue. There is already a first and even more prominent victim: the football stadium of the SSC Naples – the “Stadio Diego Armando Maradona”, which was built from 1948 and has been repeatedly rebuilt, the holy of holies of the Neapolitan football fans. It is named after the former Argentine goalscorer, who found the net 115 times and provided 29 assists in 259 games for SSC Napoli.
In mid-April, a magnitude 3.7 earthquake shook the Phlegraean Fields. In Naples, the stadium, which is already within the red zone of the supervolcano in the Fuorigrotta district, was damaged. When celebrating a goal, experts had already measured vibrations that corresponded to an earthquake of magnitude two. A real earthquake of magnitude 3.7 was too much for the stadium.
A static check after the game against Frosinione Calcio revealed, according to a city letter, that the site calcioefinanza.it quoted: “After the football match, a technical control was carried out taking into account the seismic events that occurred in the area where the stadium is located in the days before the match. “The technicians identified some critical problems in the stands of the lower ring of the stadium and in particular in sector B4 of curve B”.
The professionals of the reigning football champions play in front of empty stands
The damage was “undoubtedly due to the bradyseismos activity taking place in the Phlegraean area,” it continues. By the latter, the experts mean the uplift of the entire area of the supervolcano, accompanied by earthquakes, which is currently 1.25 meters since November 2005. After dismantling the upper part of the stands’ steps, the technicians discovered that part of the prefabricated structural element on which the steps rest was cracked.
![Soccer, men, season 2023/2024, Champions League (Group C, 4th matchday), SSC Naples - 1. FC Union Berlin, stadium](https://www.merkur.de/assets/images/34/523/34523130-fussball-herren-saison-2023-2024-champions-league-gruppe-spieltag-ssc-neapel-fc-union-berlin-stadion-QzBG.jpg)
The city administration extended structural controls to the rest of the stadium. A company specializing in engineering controls was hired to carry out stress tests in every other section of the stadium. Special measuring devices are intended to detect every possible static problem. “At the end of these tests there was a sigh of relief,” it says Il Mattino: Because the rest of the stadium doesn’t cause any problems.
The legendary stadium now needs to be renovated at a great cost
Renovation work worth a total of 113,000 euros was decided. The B-curve remains closed for the time being, 45 working days were scheduled for the renovation, which began on April 22nd. But that probably won’t last. There appear to be difficulties in obtaining materials for the restoration of the steps. These are prefabricated components that go back to the renovation for the Football World Cup in Italy in 1990. Loud calcioefinanza.it The stadium will not be restored until the end of the football season. It’s messed up anyway for the Azzurri, who are currently the reigning champions. As of May 12th they were in eighth place after losing at home to Bologna on May 11th.
New construction planned closer to potential outbreak centers
There is already a lot of controversy surrounding the SSC Naples stadium, as club president Aurelio De Laurentiis wants to build a new building even closer to the epicenters of the earthquakes and to the potential craters of a possible supervolcano eruption. The existing stadium is already in a vulnerable area in the event of an eruption, like a simulation of the science channel Geopop showed.
![A new documentary shows what effects an eruption of the Phlegraean Fields would have.](https://www.merkur.de/assets/images/34/393/34393871-eine-neue-doku-zeigt-wie-sich-ein-ausbruch-der-phlegraeischen-felder-auswirken-wuerde-QmBG.jpg)
Many people in the region are currently worried that the supervolcano could soon erupt. The authorities repeat like a prayer that there are no signals of an impending eruption. But scientists do not agree; some believe an eruption without warning is possible at any time.
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