Faial: living with risk

🌋 Faial - Between memory and volcanic risk

Faial is an island where geology is part of everyday life.

Earthquakes, eruptions and collapses are realities that have left their mark on the history and memories of the region's inhabitants. This special relationship between mankind and an Earth in constant motion can be seen everywhere in the landscape.

In Ribeirinha, the ruins of the church of São Mateus bear witness to this fragility.

Damaged several times by subterranean forces, this building is a reminder of the extent to which the archipelago, located at the crossroads of three tectonic plates, is exposed to earthquakes. Here, the resilience of the inhabitants is written in the stones that build this church.

At the western end, the Capelinhos volcano tells a different story.

In 1957, an eruption shook the island, covering villages and farmland in ash and forcing many families to leave their homes.

Today, this lunar landscape has become a unique scientific site, where we have been able to observe the mechanisms behind the birth of a volcano and the speed with which natural forces reshape a new territory.

Faial illustrates the dual face of the Azores: a place where geology is both a threat and an identity.

It shapes not only the landscape, but also stories, collective memory and the relationship between local people and their environment.

Here, living means learning to live with an Earth in perpetual motion.