Drone footage shows Azores centuries-old volcanic craters
STORY: The lush mid-Atlantic island has been rattled by more than 20,000 small earthquakes in the past 11 days, with the strongest tremor since the beginning of the "seismic crisis" recorded on Tuesday evening. It had a magnitude of 3.8, the region's CIVISA seismo-volcanic surveillance centre said.
Volcano experts warned the island could experience an initial eruption similar to Spain's La Palma last year, which destroyed thousands of properties and crops over 85 days.
A thick green layer of vegetation was seen on Wednesday covering craters which are part of the volcanic system that erupted on the island in 1808.
Sao Jorge's sudden increase in seismic activity is reminiscent of the earthquakes detected before the first eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on Spain's La Palma island last September, some 1,400 km (870 miles) southeast of the Azores.
Experts at the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute, Involcan, which monitored the La Palma eruption, said on Tuesday about 20 million cubic meters of lava could be spewed out on Sao Jorge if an eruption takes place.
