A volcanic eruption in Saudi Arabia is “imminent” and could be the biggest to occur in more than 1,000 years, a leading seismologist warned on Thursday, as thousands evacuated quake-hit villages in part of the western Al-Madinah Province.
Saudi authorities on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in part of the province, known as Al-Ais, and ordered a complete evacuation of the area after another quake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale struck.
The area has been rocked by dozens of violent tremors since the weekend.
At the epicentre of the tremors, a village called Harrah al-Shaqah, dangerous gases and unusually hot air and water in wells have started coming up from the ground, Saudi daily Arab News reported on Thursday.
A civil defence source cited by the newspaper said the discoveries suggested an eruption was likely.
“Looking at this recent activity it does seem that an eruption is imminent,” Roger Musson, of the British Geological Survey in Scotland, told Maktoob Business.
“We cannot say for definite. But the combination of the earthquakes and the release of hot gasses does suggest something is about to happen. The region has experienced volcanic activity in the past so this is possible.”
The last volcanic eruption in the region happened around the turn of the last millennium in the Rahat area of western Saudi Arabia, Musson said.
He said records suggest the last eruption forced clouds of volcanic dust up to 15 km into the air. The tremors lasted for over a month, he said.
“It is impossible to say how long this current activity will last, or how violent it will get, but we know that it is not out of the question for something to happen,” Musson said.
Saudi authorities began evacuating people on Monday and have so far moved 2,289 people, who are being offered emergency accommodation in nearby Yanbu, according to Arab News.
The newspaper said roads have been “choked with people leaving for open areas”.