All the departments of the General Council of the Horta District and the central government, represented by the Minister of Public Works, Arantes e Oliveira, sent substantial financial resources to the island. In reaction to the economic and social catastrophe, the Azorean community living in the United States used its influence to open an extraordinary quota of emigrants (the so-called “volcano victims”) which reduced the island’s population by around one half in little over a year.

After almost 50 years, the new land in Capelinhos, attacked by winters of differing rhythms and intensities, is much smaller (less than 50%) but it will still be one of Faial’s landmarks for another few years yet (for visitors and scientists finding explanations of active-phase phenomena in the interior of volcanoes being destroyed by erosion).

2. VOLCANOLOGICAL SUMMARY
Like all the other islands in the Azores, Faial is of volcanic origin and developed in four stages at different times. The oldest stage must have begun around 800,000 years ago and was responsible for the horsts in Ribeirinha, Pedro Miguel and Ponta da Espalamaca. The most recent stage, the growth of the island, involves a line of volcanic cones in the Capelo area, with its western end marked by the Capelinhos Volcano.

The Capelinhos Volcano is proof that many of the islands in the Azores are divided into volcanically active sectors. In practical terms, this means that volcanic episodes are going to occur in different parts of the islands over the centuries.