An earthquake of magnitude 3.9 hit below Etna’s eastern flank this morning at 08:49 local time at shallow depth of only 4 km and was felt in nearby towns such as Zafferana, Santa Venerina, Milo.
No immediate change in volcanic activity has been detected, although such events, even if originally tectonic in nature, can trigger underground movements of magma. Interestingly, the volcano’s seismic activity has been picking up lately: already 3 days earlier, on 18 Oct 2026, an earthquake swarm occurred under the volcano’s western flank in the mid-to-upper slope.
The latest report by the volcano observatory in Catania indicates that on that day, 20 earthquakes were detected with magnitudes of 1.0 or greater in total, including 4 quakes greater than magnitude 2.0 and one of magnitude 3.3 at 04:20 UTC approximately 600 meters southwest of Monte Minardo at a depth of 6.3 kilometers. On 19 and 20 Oct, the volcano was more quiet with only two small events detected, a magnitude 1.2 earthquake near Monte Fontane and an a magnitude 1.8 event near Maletto.
Most monitored parameters at Etna such as ground deformation, degassing rates, overall thermal radiation (as observed via satellite data), infrasonic events (indicating degassing events or explosions deep inside the conduits) have not shown significant variations in the past few weeks, meaning that there is currently no indication that a new eruption is imminent.
However, as often happened, this situation can change very quickly at Etna volcano. Along with the increased seismic activity, volcanic tremor is showing a weak, but consistent slowly increasing trend while fluctuating between low and medium levels. Overall, the volcano is showing signs of instability and the potential of renewed activity in the near future remains rather high.
