Dand according to CIVISA, the Azores Seismovolcanic Information and Monitoring Center, dozens of earthquakes have been recorded since the beginning of the week (some of which were felt), with the epicenter at sea, to the west from the parish of Capelo, exactly on the other side of the great earthquake, which also occurred at sea, just five kilometers from Ponta da Ribeirinha, on the east coast.

“The seismic activity west of Faial Island is above normal reference values”, indicates the official website of CIVISA, which adds that it follows the evolution of this original seismic crisis tectonic, that is, resulting from the movement of the tectonic plates that cross the central group of the Azores.

Despite the alarm of the population of Faial (where less than 15,000 inhabitants live) due to the new seismic crisis, José Contente, current PS deputy in the regional parliament and who was regional secretary for Housing and Public Works for 25 years, considers that the Faial “is now better prepared to face phenomena such as the earthquake of July 9, 1998”.

The former leader recalls, in statements to Lusa, the difficulties that the executive experienced in temporarily housing people, in a first phase, in temporary tents, then in prefabricated buildings.

“We had to relocate these people right away, that summer, in terms of temporary relocation. I remember, from this distance, that there were no prefabricated parts anywhere, the factories were closed in the summer. A team had to come from Canada to assemble this type of prefab,” he says.

At the time, Renato Leal, elected by the Socialist Party, was mayor of the town hall of Horta, who had left the island on vacation with his family on the eve of the earthquake, and who did not realize the extent of the damage than when it is turned over.

“I had left the day before, on a beautiful sunny day. I had not been on vacation for three years and I woke up, I think, half an hour after the earthquake. The information that my secretary immediately pointed the finger at a very unpleasant situation,” he said. It was not yet known how many deaths there were.

He rushed back to Faial, hitchhiking on the Portuguese Air Force Falcon plane, where then Prime Minister António Guterres and two ministers, Jorge Coelho and Armando Vara, also follow up.

“At the request of the Prime Minister, the pilot flew over the island of Faial and the impact was horrendous,” he recalled, describing that “there were a number of roads which were blocked and a large number of houses that were totally or partially destroyed”.

Currently far from active political life, Renato Leal, who was also a PS deputy in the Assembly of the Republic, has no doubt that Faial’s housing stock “is much better, safer”, with the reconstruction of the damage caused by the earthquake. , which amounted to 250 million euros.

Another person who does not forget that fateful dawn is Fátima Quaresma, who lived at the time in Lugar dos Espalhafatos, in the parish of Ribeirinha, and was one of the many people left homeless.

“I was working in the hospital when the earthquake happened. People panicked. Then I tried to go home, but the roads were blocked and there was a lot of dust in the air,” he tells Lusa.

The earthquake, which reached 5.9 on the Richter scale, destroyed the bridge that connected the center of the parish of Ribeirinha to Espalhafatos, leaving the town isolated.

“We had about 80 people in the camp. Then we left, slowly, organizing and making food. Then they came to set up the tents and people gradually joined the family and the group,” reports Fátima, who led the group.

Her example of initiative led her to be awarded a medal of civic merit by the President of the Republic for her role in the following months.

Firefighters also played a fundamental role in helping the victims, when many of them had also become homeless.

“There are firefighters who had houses that disappeared. They were also victims of the earthquake, but they gave up everything to help the population. The family was left in the background. This is characteristic of what He is a volunteer firefighter”, emphasizes António Fraga, former commander of the Faialenses volunteer firefighters.

The earthquake also destroyed the religious heritage of many parishes on the island. According to Marco Luciano, mediator of Horta and responsible for years of the process of rebuilding the churches, eight temples – out of a total of 13 parishes – are no longer able to practice worship.

After 25 years, the priest regrets that the shock has also left deep marks in the hearts of the faithful, whom he considers to be further removed from religious life than at that time.

“What has happened is a growing desertification of people. A lack of habit, both in the practice of faith and in community life. Currently, we have Faial further removed from the life of the Church than before the earthquake,” he said.

Today, there are still two parish churches that have not reopened: that of Pedro Miguel, which was rebuilt and will be inaugurated later this month, and that of Ribeirinha.

Also read: Magnitude 2.4 earthquake felt on the Azorean island of São Jorge